r* 


THE  SHORT  LINE  SERIES 


Thousand  and  One  Objections 

=_TO== 

SECRET  SOCIETIES 

BY 

REV.  J.  W.  BOOK,  R.  D. 

■  Revised  and  Enlarged  by 
REV.  FERREOL  GIRARDEY,  C.  SS.  R. 

_ _  _ _  "  fi 

.  v  ’ 

NEW  EDITION 


ST.  LOUIS,  1911 

Published  by  B.  HERDER 

17  South  Broadway 

FREIBURG  (Baden)  LONDON,  W.C. 

••  ‘  GERMANY  68,  Great  Russell  St. 


45190 


4 


THE  SHORT  LINE  SERIES 


Thousand  and  One  Objections 

- TO  - 

SECRET  SOCIETIES 

BY  w 

REV.  J.  W.  BOOK,  R.  D. 


Revised  and  Enlarged  by 
REV.  FERREOL  GIRARDEY,  C.  SS.  R. 


NEW  EDITION 


ST.  LOUIS,  1911 
Published  by  B.  HERDER 

17  South  Broadway 

FREIBURG  (Baden)  LONDON,  W.C. 

GERMANY  68,  Great  Russell  St. 


NIHIL,  OBSTAT. 

St.  Louis,  May  22nd,  1902. 

F.  G.  Holweck, 

Censor  theologicus. 


IMPRIMATUR. 

St.  Louis,  May  23rd,  1902. 


t  John  J.  Kain, 
Archbishop  of  St.  Louis. 


Copyright,  1902,  by  Jos.  Gummersbach. 


CONTENTS. 


Page. 

Preface . .  5 

Chapter  t.  — Name  and  Object  of  Secret 

Societies .  7 

Chapter  11.  — Secrecy  and  Oath .  16 

Chapter  iii.  — Chaplaincy . 31 

Chapter  iv.  — The  Bible .  35 

*  \ 

Chapter  v.  — Religion .  38 

Chapter  vi.  — School,  Church  and  State .  52 

Chapter  vii.  — Christianity  and  the  State .  64 

_  t 

Chapter  viii. — Excommunicated  Societies — 

Forbidden  Societies .  82 


\ 


(3) 


PREFACE. 


Encouraged  by  the  liberal  patronage  I  received 
both  as  to  the  Short  Line  to  the  Roman  Cath- 
oeic  Church  and  as  to  the  Side  Switches  of 
the  Short  Line,  I  appear  before  a  generous 
public  with  Thousand  and  one  Objections  to 
Secret  Societies. 

My  success  is  largety  due  to  the  Press  and  the 
Clergy:  the  former  introduced  me  to  the  latter, 
who  in  turn  patronized  me  freely;  no  doubt  not 
unfrequently  at  a  personal  sacrifice.  To  the  one 
as  well  as  to  the  other  I  shall  attribute  success 
in  the  future. 

This  booklet  I  write  for  the  following  reasons  : 

1.  This  is  an  age  of  Unions  and  Combines. 

2.  At  every  step  Catholics  are  importuned  to 
affiliate  themselves  with  one  or  more. 

3.  Our  people  are  frequently  tempted  to  do  so; 
not  from  sinister  motives,  but  because  they  fail  to 
see  the  dangers  to  which  they  expose  themselves. 

4.  Those  having  charge  of  souls,  as  a  rule,  find 
their  time  too  limited  to  stop  and  point  out  the 
dangers  to  every  one  about  to  fall  overboard. 

5.  I11  this  pamphlet — I  might  call  it  a  nutshell 
— all  objections,  usually  only  platitudes,  brought 
against  the  Church  on  account  of  her  attitude 
towards  Secret  Societies,  are  answered  in  a 
simple  and  popular  manner. 


THE  AUTHOR. 


SECRET  SOCIETIES. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Name  and  Object. 

Thomas:  I  come  to  your  Reverence  this  even¬ 
ing  on  a  very  important  mission,  a  mission  that 
seems  to  engross  in  our  day  the  minds  of  the 
American  people.  However,  Father,  I  do  not 
wish  to  monopolize  your  time ;  do  tell  me,  are 
you  at  leisure  just  now? 

Father:  I  am,  sir;  especially  if  your  mission 
is  of  so  much  importance. 

Thomas:  Well;  it  is  of  great  interest  to  me  as 
well  as  to  some  of  my  friends.  You  see,  Father, 
we  are  just  starting  on  the  voyage  of  this  life,  full 
of  ups  and  downs.  Of  course,  competition  is  the  life 
of  trade ,  but  too  much  of  it  has  a  depressing  in¬ 
fluence  on  a  young  man  wishing  to  keep  up  with 
the  progress  of  this  great  world.  One  man  is  not 
the  world:  we  need  mutual  assistance;  therefore, 
we  meet  face  to  face  with  combines ,  trusts  and 
societies.  By  the  way,  Father,  I  think  the  Cath¬ 
olic  Church  is  too  strict  in  some  things,  for 
instance,  as  to  secret  societies.  Only  good  men 
belong  to  them;  they  are  charitable  institutions 
and  the  members  help  each  other  in  business.  To 
tell  the  truth,  I  am  getting  more  liberal  on  some 
questions  ;  though,  far  be  it  from  me  to  live  or 

(7) 


8 


SECRET  SOCIETIES. 


die  anything  else  but  a  Catholic.  Father,  what 
do  you  think  about  the  propriety  of  joining  one 
or  two  secret  societies? 

Father:  You  take  me  by  surprise,  Thomas,  I 
have  always  looked  upon  you  as  a  man  of  correct 
principles  and  well-grounded  faith.  But,  I  see 
you  are  dyed  in  liberalism  and  your  faith  is  be¬ 
coming  very  unsound.  To  be  liberal  in  assisting 
the  poor,  the  orphan  and  the  widow  is  a  noble 
and  Christian  trait ;  on  the  other  hand,  to  be 
liberal  in  receiving  or  rejecting  truths  revealed  by 
God  is  nonsense  pure  and  simple.  How  can  you 
for  one  moment  believe  that  God  speaks  to  you 
through  His  divinely  instituted  Church,  and  then 
presume  to  weigh  His  words  in  the  scales  of 
human  reason  to  see  whether  they  should  be  ac¬ 
cepted  or  rejected  !  This  would  be  unpardonable 
conceit  in  you  and  a  gross  insult  offered  to  your 
Maker,  and  this  is  the  sum  and  substance  of  a 
liberal  religion.  You,  Thomas,  must  have  moved 
in  the  society  of  those,  who  are  very  narrow¬ 
minded  or  whose  education  has  been  sadly  neg¬ 
lected.  They  are  superficial  thinkers  ;  they  have 
learned  by  heart  a  few  bombastic  and  meaningless 
phrases,  which  fill  them  to  overflowing.  To  fol¬ 
low  these  men  blindly  is  to  act  the  part  of  an  ape. 
You  are  a  man  ;  therefore  act  in  a  manly  manner. 
You  have  much  more  right  to  weigh  their  words 
than  they  have  to  weigh  God’s  words.  Weigh 
them  and  weigh  them  well  —  give  each  word  its 
full  meaning  and  its  full  force,  and  you  will  not 
be  considered  liberal  by  the  world. 

Thomas:  I  know  Father,  “not  everything  that 


NAME  AND  OBJECT. 


9 


glitters  is  gold but,  we  must  give  our  neigh¬ 
bors  due  credit.  Many  things  in  secret  societies 
commend  themselves  to  Christians  in  general  and 
even  to  us  Catholics. 

Father:  It  is  surely  not  the  name? 

Thomas:  Well,  what  objection  could  you  have 
to  the  word  Freemason  ?  » 

Father:  Its  a  misnomer.  Members  of  free¬ 
masonry  are  never  free  and  seldom  masons. 
They  absent  themselves  from  home — they  spend 
hours  at  the  lodge-room — they  return  late  at 
night  to  wife  and  children  who  ask  impatiently  : 
“Papa,  what  have  you  been  doing  so  long?” 

“Dear  wife  and  beloved  children,  please,  do  not 
insist  on  an  answer  to  this  question.  You  see,  I 
am  not  only  a  mason,  but  am  also  free,  though  I 
have  taken  an  iron-clad  oath  never  to  breathe  to 
you  my  wife  and  to  you  my  sons  and  daughters, 
what  I  know  and  do.  ”  Thomas,  is  this  freedom? 

Furthermore,  most  members  of  this  society  are 
not  masons  at  all.  They  are  clerks,  book-keepers, 
teachers,  preachers,  physicians,  lawyers,  mer¬ 
chants,  bankers,  tailors  and  sewing-machine 
agents  ;  men  who  would  not  and  could  not  handle 
a  trowel.  And  yet  they  are  pleased  to  call  them¬ 
selves  masons.  This  is  humbug.  As  a  rule  masons 
(mechanics)  build  up  ;  but,  sometimes  they  are 
called  upon  to  tear  down  a  building.  In  the  latter 
sense  the  members  of  this  organization  may  be 
called  masons  with  some  propriety,  for,  as  we  shall 
see,  they  are  engaged  in  the  nefarious  work  of 
tearing  down  God’s  Church. 

Thomas :  What  about  the  name  Odd  Fellow? 


IO 


SECRET  SOCIETIES. 


Father  :  The  name  condemns  itself.  Odd  means 
queer — Queer  Fellows.  If  they  consider  themselves 
queer ,  they  can  have  no  objections  to  our  do¬ 
ing  so. 

Thomas  :  I  admit,  the  Free  Masons  as  well  as 
the  Odd  Fellows  have  been  somewhat  unfortunate 
in  naming  their  organizations.  However,  what 
objections  could  be  raised  against  the  Knights  of 
Pythias  on  this  score? 

Father :  One  thing  is  commendable  in  them  ; 
they  show  their  colors  at  once  ;  they  exhibit  their 
opposition  to  Christianity  by  their  very  name. 
Why  have  they  chosen  a  heathen  as  their  patron? 

Thomas :  But,  Father,  Pythias  was  full  of 
brotherly  love — ever  ready  to  assist  his  fellow- 
men. 

Father :  Not  exactly,  for  all  his  brotherly  love 
wTas  centred  in  only  one  man,  his  bosom  friend. 
However,  why  have  recourse  to  heathenism  to 
find  a  model  of  love  for  our  fellow-men,  ir¬ 
respective  of  race,  religion  and  condition?  Has 
not  Christianity  produced  thousands  and  millions 
of  models  for  us  to  follow?  Our  orphan  asylums, 
our  hospitals,  our  institutions  for  the  insane,  deaf 
and  dumb,  our  homes  for  the  old  and  infirm  ;  all 
are  the  fruits  of  Christianity.  To  heathenism  such 
charitable  institutions  were  entirely  unknown. 

To  tell  the  truth,  Thomas,  the  devil  has  his 
hand  in  this.  He  is  sharp  and  shrewd  ;  he  said 
to  himself,  the  victory  is  half  won,  if  I  only  suc¬ 
ceed  in  drawing  the  attention  of  men  away  from 
Christianity.  In  the  case  of  these  Knights  he 
succeeds  well,  admirably  weU.  A  heathen  patr  n 


NAME  AND  OBJECT. 


II 


was  preferred  to  a  Christian,  and  that,  probably, 
because  the  Pythians  believe  rather  in  a  dis¬ 
criminating  philanthropy  than  in  a  genuine 
Christian  charity,  which  extends  to  all  men. 

Thomas  :  Evidently,  the  choice  was  not  very 
flattering  to  Christians.  However  we  must  look 
at  the  ways  of  the  world  with  a  certain  allowance. 
Eet  me  call  your  attention  to  one  more  secret 
society,  I  mean  the  Knights  of  Honor.  Surely, 
there  can  be  no  objection  to  their  name.  All 
men,  whether  Christians  or  heathens,  ought  to 
be  men  of  honor.  These  Knights  tell  us  only 
good  men  belong  to  their  order. 

Father  :  They  do  so,  it  is  true  ;  and  I  have 
been  told  so  by  them  time  and  again.  But, 
these  men  “of  honor”  have  not  always  due  re¬ 
gard  for  truth,  especially  when  they  are  con¬ 
cerned.  A  certain  member  made  the  above  as¬ 
sertion  in  my  presence,  when  I  knew  his  wife 
had  been  refused  credit  in  his  name  for  a  box  of 
shoe-blacking. 

We  must  look  at  the  question  from  a  Catholic 
standpoint.  A  man  without  faith  is  not  a  good 
man.  “Without  faith  it  is  impossible  to  please 
God,”  says  the  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles.  A  man 
who  is  divorced  from  his  lawful  wife  and  marries 
another  is  also  a  bad  man.  One  who  will  not 
hear  the  Church  is  anything  but  good,  for  our 
Saviour  says  :  “If  he  will  not  hear  the  Church,  let 
him  be  to  thee  as  a  heathen  and  a  publican.  ’  ’ 
As  a  rule,  the  most  godless  men  occupy  the  most 
prominent  positions  in  these  lodges  ;  scoffers  at 
the  Christian  religion,  like  Ingersoll,  are  received 


12 


SECRET  SOCIETIES. 


with  open  arms,  provided  they  pay  their  dues. 
Now,  to  say  that  only  good  men  belong  to  them  is 
enough  to  provoke  a  smile  from  every  man  of 
common  sense. 

Thomas  :  You  must  remember,  however,  Father, 
even  in  the  Catholic  Church,  we  have  many  bad 
men. 

Father  :  Indeed  we  have  ;  and  for  this  very 
reason  we  never  claim  that  only  good  men  belong 
to  us,  for  the  Church,  like  her  divine  Founder, 
strives  to  bring  sinners  to  repentance.  Let  the 
Knights  of  Honor  go  and  do  likewise .  Thomas, 
you  must  not  nibble  at  every  bait  these  fellows 
throw  out. 

Thomas  :  I  see,  Father,  you  are  a  stickler  on 
words.  We  must  bear  in  mind,  however,  it’s  not 
all  in  the  name.  The  name  is  to  the  end  what 
the  shell  is  to  the  kernel.  Look  at  the  end  these 
secret  societies  have  in  view. 

Father  :  What  is  the  end  ? 

Thomas :  To  assist  each  other,  to  practise 
charity  and  do  good  generally. 

Father  :  The  very  answrer  I  anticipated,  an  an¬ 
swer  that  misleads,  not  to  say  dupes  many.  Sup¬ 
pose  a  father  at  the  head  of  a  family  consisting 
of  a  wife  and  six  children.  He  gets  sick  and  dies, 
leaving  his  beloved  in  a  very  precarious  condi¬ 
tion.  The  last  rites  have  been  performed — it  is 
a  cold  and  dreary  winter  night — the  mourners 
are  poorly  housed — the  cold  blasts  of  winter  force 
themselves  into  the  little  hut — the  clothing  barely 
covers  their  limbs — the  repast  is  anything  but 
sumptuous  and  the  bedding  is  thin.  In  this  di- 


NAME)  AND  OBJECT. 


13 


lemma  a  happy  thought  strikes  the  mother — she 
recalls  to  mind  that  the  Masonic  Lodge,  a  very 
charitable  institution,  is  just  now  in  session. 
Surely,  she  consoles  herself:  they  will  come  to  the 
assistance  of  my  fatherless  children  in  their  for¬ 
lorn  condition.  She  goes,  she  hastens,  she  raps 
at  the  door  of  the  lodge,  high  up  in  the  air,  it  is 
true,  as  if  it  meant :  do  not  approach  us.  But  she 
hears  steps — Brother  Roofer  comes  and  asks  the 
question;  uwho  is  out  there.’’'  “A  poor  widow, 
left  by  her  late  husband  with  six  children  in  the 
most  destitute  circumstances.  I  come  to  the  lodge, 
known  the  world  over  by  its  great  deeds  of  char¬ 
ity,  and  respectfully  ask  for  assistance  in  this  sad 
hour  of  bereavement.  ’ ’  “My  good  lady,  was  your 
late  husband  a  mason?”  “No,  he  was  not;  but 
this  humanitarian  institution,  I  presume,  will  suc¬ 
cor  the  sorely  afflicted  regardless  of  the  ties  of 
affiliation,” 

“Madam,  having  but  little  time  at  my  disposal 
just  now,  I  must  say  you  are  mistaken.  Though 
our  order  is  a  very  charitable  institution,  yet,  as  a 
rule,  we  assist  those  widows  only  whose  hus¬ 
bands  have  been  members  thereof.  Therefore, 
under  the  circumstances,  I  must  beg  to  be  ex¬ 
cused  —  at  a  later  period  we  may  reconsider  the 
matter.  ’  ’ 

Thomas,  what  do  you  think  of  this  much 
boasted  charity.  I  say  it  deserves  not  the  name; 
it  is  not  even  philanthropy.  Why  not  call  it 
simply  justice?  If  we  render  assistance  to  those 
only  who  have  brought  in  their  hard  cash  in  the 
shape  of  monthly  dues,  we  do  nothing  more  than 


T4 


SECRET  SOCIETIES. 


return  to  others  what  in  justice  belongs  to  them. 
As  well  might  an  insurance  company  claim  to  be 
a  charity-dispensing  institution.  What  is  true  of 
the  Free  Masons  may  be  said  of  all  other  secret 
societies.  How  different  is  Christian  charity,  so 
universal,  so  disinterested,  so  self-sacrificing! 
“And  if  you  do  good  to  them  that  do  good  to 
you,  what  thanks  are  to  you?”  (Luke  6,  33.) 

Thomas:  Father,  again  I  must  consider  you 
somewhat  extreme.  What  would  become  of  the 
treasury,  if,  excuse  the  expression,  every  Tom, 
Dick  and  Harry  could  lay  his  hands  on  it?  Self¬ 
protection  is  the  first  law  of  nature.  For  instance, 
your  C.  K.  of  A.  Branch  protects  the  treasury  as 
well  as  the  masons  do.  And  were  they  not  to  do 
so,  it  would  soon  become  bankrupt. 

Father:  The  C.  K.  of  A.,  unlike  secret  organ¬ 
izations,  does  not  pretend  or  boast  to  be  as  chari¬ 
table  as  humanity  is  broad. 

Thomas:  We  often  read  of  Free  Masons,  for 
instance,  making  liberal  donations  to  cities, 
visited  by  great  plagues,  such  as  the  yellow 
fever. 

Father:  We  also  read  of  other  people  doing 
this;  business  men,  for  example.  We  know  also 
how  the  Catholic  Clergy  and  Nuns  do  more  than 
this,  for  they  sacrifice  their  lives  for  the  victims 
of  contagion  without  distinction  of  friend  or  foe 
or  of  religion. 

Thomas:  Some  secret  societies  have  orphan 
asylums. 

Father:  I  admit,  there  are  a  few  institutions  of 
this  kind.  Furthermore,  it  would  be  too  bad  if 


NAME  AND  OBJECT. 


15 


they  had  none  at  all,  especially  after  their  boast¬ 
ing  so  much  about  humanitarianism,  philanthropy , 
charity  and  brotherly  love .  On  the  other  hand, 
the  country  is  dotted  with  Catholic  benevolent 
institutions,  such  as  hospitals,  orphanages,  found¬ 
ling  houses  and  homes  for  the  old  and  infirm. 
Without  having  recourse  to  the  cover  of  darkness 
and  secrecy  we  attend  to  the  wants  of  our  fellow- 
men  in  broad  daylight. 


A A 


CHAPTER  II. 


Secrecy  and  Oath. 

Thomas:  By  cover  of  darkness  you  mean,  I  pre¬ 
sume,  secrecy ,  to  which  the  Church  is  so  much 
opposed.  However,  in  this  world  secrets  are  very 
common:  we  have  family  secrets,  business  secrets, 
professional  secrets,  and,  by  the  way,  secrets 
even  in  the  Church;  take  for  instance  the  great 
secret  of  the  confessional. 

Father:  There  is  nothing  alarming  about  a 
family  secret.  Even  if  the  end  and  means  should 
tend  to  one  or  other  unlawful  object,  there  would 
be  as  many  divisions  as  there  are  families  and, 
consequently,  neither  Church  nor  state  could  be 
imperiled:  In  union  there  is  strength.  Further¬ 
more,  who  ever  heard  of  a  family  taking  an  iron¬ 
clad  oath  to  keep  a  secret? 

Business  secrets  are  equally  harmless.  What 
objection  could  be  raised  to  a  mark ,  by  which  the 
store-keeper  recognizes  the  value  of  his  goods? 
His  memory  is  not  supposed  to  be  better  than 
that  of  other  people. 

As  to  confession,  it  is  a  secret,  and  not  a 
secret;  an  inviolable  secret  as  to  the  confessor, 
but  not  so  to  the  penitent.  In  other  words, 
Thomas,  you  may  tell  what  you  have  revealed  in 
the  confessional.  Tell  me,  did  you  ever  take  an 
oath  not  to  do  so? 


( 1 6) 


SECRECY  AND  OATH. 


17 


Thomas:  No;  no  priest  ever  exacted  this  of  me. 
On  this  question  I  am  mistaken.  What  holds 
good  for  the  confessional,  however,  may  not  take 
quite  so  well  with  benevolent  organizations.  You 
see,  Father,  what  is  every  body’s  business  is 
nobody’s  business.  Secrecy  is  almost  indispen¬ 
sable — a  lodge  room  is  not  supposed  to  be  a 
public  hall,  frequented  by  any  one  who  may 
choose  to  do  so  at  the  expense  of  the  initiated. 
Catholic  Knights  themselves  object  to  this;  at 
least,  we  never  hear  of  outsiders  attending  their 
meetings. 

Father I11  this  respect,  it  is  true,  the  C.  K.  of 
A.  are  not  troubled,  though  they  transact  business 
with  open  doors.  I11  civilized  countries  people, 
as  a  rule,  have  so  much  politeness  that  they 
could  not  be  induced  to  impose  upon  others  — 
they  mind  their  own  business.  Suppose,  however, 
some  one  were  to  attend  the  meeting  uninvited,  • 
no  disturbance  would  be  raised  by  the  members 
as  long  as  he  behaved  himself.  They  are  not 
engaged  in  a  nefarious  work;  consequently,  they 
have  no  reason  to  shun  the  light  like  thieves 
who  are  lovers  of  darkness.  And,  moreover, 
their  very  constitution  requires  them  to  obey  the 
Church. 

Thomas:  But,  Father,  there  seems  to  be  a 
charm  about  secrec}^  —  it  cements  one  member  to 
the  other  —  discard  it,  and* the  best  organized 
society  will  fall  under  its  own  weight.  There¬ 
fore,  it  is  a  necessity. - 

Father :  Hither  the  end  of  a  society  is  good,  or 
it  is  not;  if  it  is,  it  will  recommend  itself;  if  not, 

2 


1 8 


SECRET  SOCIETIES. 


the  society  ought  to  fall,  and  the  sooner,  the 
better.  Take  the  Catholic  Church — she  is  spread 
over  the  face  of  the  earth  —  she  has  seen  the. 
mightiest  empires  fall  —  she  is  the  best  organized 
institution  in  the  world — her  doors  are  open  to 
every  nation  under  the  sun  —  the  powers  of  hell 
itself  prevail  not  against  her;  she  is  a  standing 
proof  that  a  society  can  stand  without  secrecy  and 
iron-clad  oaths. 

By  the  way  let  me  remark,  secrecy  is  only 
incidentally  forbidden;  for,  if  the  end  be  laudable 
and  the  means  to  attain  this  end  lawful,  secrecy 
of  itself  would  make  no  society  objectionable. 
On  the  other  hand,  if  both,  the  one  and  the 
other,  be  good,  why  conceal  them?  Why  not 
throw  the  doors  wide  open  that  the  world  may 
see  and  assist  in  the  promotion  of  the  good  work? 
By  a  divine  right  the  Church  has  charge  of 
souls  and,  consequently,  she  has  a  right  to  know 
what  they  are  doing  and  how  they  are  doing  it. 
But,  how  can  she  judge  of  the  lawfulness  of  an 
act,  if  it  is  not  submitted  to  her  judgment?  As 
a  rule,  people  like  to  speak  of  and  hold  out  in 
bold  relief  a  good  thing;  if,  however,  they  band 
together  with  the  avowed  purpose  to  conceal  the 
end  and  the  means ,  there  is  grave  reason  to 
believe  that  the  one  or  the  other,  if  not  both,  is 
immoral  and  consequently  reprehensible. 

All  that  the  Church  requires  is  that  the  end 
sought  for  be  legitimate,  and  the  means  to  attain 
that  end  be  sanctioned  by  God’s  law.  Now, 
surely  every  Catholic  who  knows  anything  of  his 
religion  must  be  aware  that  no  man  can  lawfully 


SECRECY  AND  OATH. 


19 


form  an  association  or  enter  into  one  for  a  sinful 
or  wicked  purpose.  And  it  is  equally  certain 
that  no  matter  how  good  the  end  may  be,  or  how 
desirable,  the  Church  can  never  sanction  wicked 
or  unlawful  means  to  obtain  it.  Notwithstanding 
the  calumnies  so  often  uttered  by  her  enemies, 
the  Church  has  always  held  as  a  fundamental 
truth,  that  the  end  does  not  justify  the  means. 
I11  this  free  land  every  legitimate  object  can  be 
attained  in  an  open  manner.  Men  can  here  give 
full  expression  to  their  convictions  and  aspira¬ 
tions,  and  labor  to  attain  them  in  the  clear  light 
of  open  day.  What  need,  then,  can  there  be  of 
secret,  oath-bound  associations?  Something  must 
be  wrong  in  the  end  proposed,  when  men,  in  a 
free  land,  must  meet  in  the  dark  to  obtain  it. 
When  men  shun  the  light  and  seek  darkness,  it 
is  a  proof  that  their  works  are  evil. 

Thomas:  I  notice,  Father,  you  refer  quite 
frequently  to  the  oath  taken  by  the  members  of 
forbidden  societies.  You  must  be  aware,  how¬ 
ever,  that  many  lodges  do  not  administer  an  oath 
at  all —  the  members  simply  promise  “upon 
their  word  of  honor”  to  refrain  from  divulging 
the  secrets  entrusted  to  them.  Is  there  anything 
wrong  in  this? 

Father:  Hardly,  especially,  if  the  end  and 
means  be  good.  But,  how  will  the  Church  know 
this,  when  the  Brothers  mutually  pledge  them¬ 
selves  not  to  make  any  revelations  to  the  pro  fame? 
Practically,  therefore,  the  pledge  may  do  as 
much  harm  as  the  oath.  At  any  rate,  it  is  very  un¬ 
manly  to  make  blind  promises  —  it  is  cowardly. 


20 


secret  societies. 


Sensible  men  wish  to  know  what  obligations 
they  take  upon  themselves  before  they  make  any 
promises.  At  least,  they  do  this  in  every  other 
walk  of  life.  Strange  to  say,  that  men  will  per¬ 
mit  themselves  to  be  blindfolded  in  this  one  par¬ 
ticular —  they  pledge  each  other  something  of 
which  they  are  supposed  to  know  nothing.  I 
repeat  it,  it  is  not  manly,  it  is  unreasonable. 

Thomas :  I  seethe  point,  Father.  Permit  me 
to  ask:  Is  it  sinful  to  take  an  oath  administered 
in  a  lodge-room?  No  one  disputes  the  right  of 
the  Court  administering  it. 

Father:  An  oath  should  be  administered  by 
lawful  authority,  be  it  civil  or  ecclesiastical,  and 
taken  only  for  grave  and  sufficient  cause,  for  we 
read:  “Thou  shalt  not  take  the  name  of  the  Lord 
thy  God  in  vain.”  Who  has  empowered  these 
secret  societies  to  prescribe  and  exact  oaths? 
And  especially  oaths  directly  opposed  to  the  laws 
of  God,  which  forbid  all  rash,  unjust  and  un¬ 
necessary  oaths.  “Swearing,  or  taking  an  oath, 
is  calling  God  to  witness  that  we  speak  the  truth, 
or  that  we  will  keep  our  promise,”  says  our  cate¬ 
chism.  What  truth  is  the  applicant  for  admis¬ 
sion  into  such  .societies,  to  .speak,  or  what  prom¬ 
ises  is  he  to  keep?  Are  they  good,  bad  or  in¬ 
different?  He  knows  nothing  about  them. 

Therefore,  he  takes  the  name  of  God  in  vain 
at  the  very  first  step;  therefore  he  sins.  It  is 
true,  in  some  secret  societies  an  oath  is  not  taken; 
but  in  most  of  them  it  is,  or  at  least  an  equivalent 
to  one.  Take  for  instance,  the  Knights  of 
Pythias,  and  let  the  late  Archbishop  Janssens 
speak: 


SECRECY  AND  OATH. 


21 


“The  members  in  masks  are  clothed  in  black  robes; 
loud  talk  or  heavy  walking  must  be  avoided ;  the  can¬ 
didate  is  dressed  in  a  white  robe  and  his  eyes  are  blind¬ 
folded  ;  the  outer  guard  is  commanded  not  to  converse 
with  him  in  a  frivolous  manner.  With  grave  solemnity 
he  is  asked  whether  he. believes  in  a  Supreme  Being; 
absolute  obedience  is  expected  of  him  and  he  takes  the 
oath  to  keep  secret  forever,  all  he  may  hear  or  be  in¬ 
structed  in  hereafter  regarding  the  mysteries  of  the 
order.  He  is  made  to  kneel  down  by  the  side  of  a 
coffin,  containing  sometimes  a  skeleton.  He  places  his 
hand  on  the  Bible.  Members  cover  him  with  their 
lances  as  a  warning  of  what  may  happen  should  he  fail 
to  keep  the  oath.  The  oath  of  secrecy  refers  to  things 
present  and  things  in  the  future,  and  is  as  follows:  ‘I, 
in  the  presence  of  these  true  and  tried  brethren,  do 
most  solemnly  promise,  declare  and  swear,  that  I  will 
never  reveal  to  the  day  of  my  death  and  will  keep 
secret  all  the  mysteries,  in  which  I  have  been  or  in 
which  I  may  hereafter  be  instructed.’  He  declares  the 
same  about  passwords,  etc.,  and  finishes  ‘so  help  me 
God’,  and  in  token  of  sincerity  he  must  kiss  the  Bible. 
Some  members  pretend  that  the  ceremonies  of  the 
order  mean  nothing  ;  if  this  be  so,  then  the  ceremonies 
are  simply  a  blasphemous  mockery  of  God,  abusing  the 
sacredness  of  an  oath,  and  of  the  Holy  Bible.  But  all 
the  ceremonies,  preceding  and  following,  clearly  show 
that  the  order  is  in  real  earnest  when  it  imposes  this 
oath  on  the  candidate.  These  quotations  I  have  made 
from  a  ritual  of  the  order  lying  before  me. 

The  secrets  are  not  allowed  to  be  made  manifest 
‘except  it  be  in  a  regular  lodge  or  to  an  authorized  officer 
of  the  order.’  ” 

Thomas:  Under  this  aspect  the  question  be¬ 
comes  more  serious. 

Father:  Indeed  it  does  :  but  this  is  not  all. 
The  candidate  of  the  third  rank  calls  God  as  wit¬ 
ness  that  “he  may  suffer  all  the  anguish  and  tor¬ 
ments  possible  for  man  to  suffer,  if  ever  by  word 


22 


SECRET  SOCIETIES. 


or  sign  he  exposes  the  secret  work  or  ceremonies 
of  the  order.  ’  ’ 

Consider  for  one  moment  what  this  applicant 
does  :  he  obliges  himself  to  work  for  an  end  un¬ 
known  to  himself,  an  end  which  may,  con¬ 
sequently,  be  very  bad  ;  he  obliges  himself  to 
make  use  of  means  which  may  be  very  immoral 
in  their  tendency,,  for  he  “promises  to  obey  all 
orders  that  may  be  given,”  and  the  constitutions 
of  said  secret  societies  do  not  forbid  the  giving  of 
orders  that  may  be  directly  opposed  to  the  divine 
laws,  and,  therefore,  very  sinful  and  even  highly 
criminal ;  he  obliges  himself  to  co-operate  with  an 
organization  whose  supreme  court,  according  to 
Archbishop  Janssens,  is  the  Council  of  Ten  con¬ 
sisting  of  the  King  and  his  nine  Counsellors, 
“from  whose  decision  there  is  no  appeal,  whose 
edicts  once  sent  forth  are  established  law.  ’  ’ 

Thomas:  Evidently,  this  implies  that  he  will 
yield  blind  obedience  to  all  commands,  whether 
good  or  bad. 

Father:  Yes,  this  and  more,  too.  To  surrender 
one’s  liberty  of  action  to  an  unknown  leader  or 
law-giver,  to  sacrifice  one’s  personal  responsibility 
in  favor  of  one  who  is  irresponsible ,  simply  because 
he  is  lurking  in  the  dark:  is  it  not  an  act  of 
supreme  folly?  Is  not  this  the  most  abject  and  de¬ 
basing  slavery?  And  “by  what  authority,”  asks 
the  same  Archbishop,  “does  the  chancellor  or 
prelate  of  a  Pythian  lodge  assume  the  right  to 
make  a  Catholic  kneel  down,  kiss  the  Bible  (most 
likely  a  Protestant  one)  and  swear  by  God  that 
he  will  keep  secret  things  present  and  in  the 


SECRKCY  AND  OATH. 


23 


future  till  the  day  of  death  ?  Pythians,  who  call 
themselves  Catholics,  dilate  on  the  arbitrariness 
of  the  Church,  which  has  her  power  and  authority 
from  Christ,  the  Son  of  God — and  they  kneel 
down  and  take  an  oath  by  order  of  a  man  who 
has  no  other  power  or  authority  over  them  than 
that  which  he  assumes.”  I11  short,  Thomas, 
pledges,  solemn  promises,  or  oaths  of  this  nature, 
forcibly  call  to  our  mind  the  executioner  of  St. 
John  the  Baptist.  He  took  a  wicked  oath  and 
he  kept  it. 

Th  omas:  To  me  this  discussion  is  getting  in¬ 
teresting.  If  it  is  not  imposing  on  your  good 
nature,  let  us  consider  the  Masonic  oath.  I 
should  like  to  know  something  about  it,  though  I 
must  confess,  I  have  my  doubts  whether  the 
profane  know  anything  concerning  it.  If  any 
society  keeps  its  secrets,  I  believe  Masons  do. 
What  say  you,  Father? 

Father:  Undoubtedly,  they  try  hard  to  keep 
the  oath  from  being  made  public,  and  for  good 
reasons,  because  it  is  a  terrible  blasphemy.  I 
have  no  hesitancy  in  saying  that  any  one  who  has 
taken  it,  is  heartily  ashamed  of  it.  Of  course, 
this  is  quite  an  inducement  to  keep  the  secret. 
In  the  first  place,  however,  how  few  are  they  to 
whom  secrets  can  be  entrusted?  Our  most  in¬ 
timate  friends,  as  experience  teaches,  bear  watch¬ 
ing.  Our  intimate  friends  also  have  intimate 
friends.  The  latter  are  trusted  as  much  as  the 
former.  Men  have  wives,  and  wives  are  not 
only  inquisitive,  but  also  experts  at  unveiling. 
Consequently,  not  to  speak  of  the  many  malicious 


24 


SECRET  SOCIETIES. 


perjurers  to  be  found  in  this  world,  there  are 
many  avenues  leading  to  the  exposition  of  the 
secrets.  Moreover  the  Masons  have  become  so 
numerous  and  powerful,  that  they  no  longer  so 
carefully  conceal  their  oaths,  but  they  permit 
books  containing  them  to  fall  into  the  hands  of 
the  profane. 

In  the  second  place,  the  question  may  be  asked: 
is  it  not  a  duty  to  make  the  revelation  ?  Either 
the  end  and  means  of  the  Freemasons  are  good,  or 
they  are  not ;  if  not,  the  oath  is  not  binding  on 
the  conscience.  What  answer  does  our  catechism 
give  to  the  question  “Are  we  bound  to  keep  an 
oath?’5 

Thomas:  “Certainly,  unless  we  have  sworn,  to 
do  evil  :  in  such  a  case  to  keep  an  oath  would  be 
to  commit  another  sin.” 

Father:  Now,  Thomas,  are  you  prepared  to  say 
that  the  oath  has  never  been  revealed  ?  that  there 
never  has  been  a  perjurer  in  the  ranks  of  Masonry, 
or  that  no  one  has  ever  opened  his  lips  from  con¬ 
scientious  motives,  especially,  when  the  Church’s 
welfare  or  the  State’s  stability  was  imperiled  by 
unscrupulous  demagogues  ? 

Thomas:  Looking  at  the  matter  in  question  from 
this  standpoint,  the  aspect  changes  materially. 
But,  if  y ou  know  the  Masonic  oath,  let  us  have 
it  at  once. 

Father:  Before  I  accede  to  your  wishes,  I  must 
remark  that  Masons  are  very  lavish  with  their 
oaths,  and  these  are  taken  at  every  step ;  that 
there  may  be  a  difference  as  to  the  wording  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  rite,  French,  Scottish  or  Royal 
Arch  (York).  Here  is  a  specimen  : 


SECRECY  AND  OATH. 


25 


“I, - ,  of  my  own  free  will  and  accord,  ill  the 

presence  of  Almighty  God,  and  this  worshipful  lodge, 
erected  to  Him  and  dedicated  to  holy  Saint  John  do 
hereby  and  hereon  (Master  presses  his  gavel  or  hand  on 
candidate’s  hand,)  most  solemnly  and  sincerely  promise 
and  swear,  that  I  will  always  hail,  ever  conceal  and 
never  reveal  any  of  the  secret  arts,  parts  or  points  of 
the  hidden  mysteries  of  Freemasonry  which  may  have 
been  heretofore,  shall  be  at  this  time  or  any  future 
period,  communicated  to  me  as  such,  to  any  person 
or  persons  whomsoever,  except  it  be  to  a  true  and 
lawful  brother  Mason,  or  in  a  regularly  constituted 
lodg»  of  Masons;  nor  unto  him,  nor  them,  until  by 
stricr  trial,  due  examination  or  legal  information,  I 
shall  nave  found  him  or  them,  as  lawfully  entitled  to 
the  same  as  I  am  myself.  I  furthermore  promise  and 
swear,  that  I  will  not  write,  print,  paint,  stamp,  stain, 
cut.  carve,  mark  or  engrave  them,  nor  cause  the  same 
to  be  done,  on  anything  movable  or  immovable  capable 
of  receiving  the  least  impression  of  a  word,  syllable, 
letter  or  character,  whereby  the  same  may  become 
legible  or  intelligible  to  any  person  or  persons  under 
the  canopy  of  heaven,  and  the  secrets  of  Freemasonry 
unlawfully  obtained  through  my  unworthiness. 

All  this  I  most  solemnly  and  sincerely  promise  and 
swear,  with  a  firm  and  steadfast  resolution  to  perform 
the  same,  without  any  hesitation,  mental  reservation 
or  secret  evasion  of  mind  whatever;  binding  myself 
under  no  less  a  penalty  than  that  of  having  my  throat 
cut  across,  my  tongue  torn  out  by  its  roots,  and  buried 
in  the  rough  sands  of  the  sea,  at  low-water  mark, 
where  the  tide  ebbs  and  flows  twice  in  twenty-four 
hours,  should  I  ever  knowingly  violate  this  my  Entered 
Apprentice  obligation.  So  help  me  God,  and  keep  me 
steadfast  in  the  due  performance  of  the  same.” 

Thomas:  Horrible,  indeed!  However,  what 
assurance  have  we  that  this  is  one  of  their  oaths. 

Father:  Jacob  O.  Doesburg,  of  Holland,  Ottowa 
Co.,  Michigan,  says  so  :  and  he  ought  to  know, 
for  among  other  things  he  “deposeth”  before  a 


26 


SECRET  SOCIETIES. 


Notary  Public  that  he  was  a  Freemason  and  that 
he  “very  carefully  revised  the  book  entitled 
Freemasonry  Illustrated,  published  by  Ezra 
A.  Cook  &  Co.  of  Chicago,  Illinois.  To  this  he 
not  only  signs  his  name,  but  gives  us  the  follow¬ 
ing  voucher : 

State  of  Michigan,  1 
County  of  Ottowa,  /  ss‘ 

Sworn  to  and  subscribed  before  me  this  21st  day  of 
October,  A.  D.  1879. 

Isaac  Fairbank, 

Notary  Public  in  and  for  Ottowa  Co.,  Mich. 

If  necessary,  Thomas,  I  can  give  you  more  sworn 
affidavits  from  Doesburg’s  own  work — here  is  the 
book. 

Thomas:  Not  at  all  necessary.  Freemasons  re¬ 
tort,  we  cannot  believe  traitors  even  when  under 
oath,  and  it  seems  to  me  they  are  right. 

Father:  Although  perfect  credence  cannot 
usually  be  given  to  those  who  divulge  .secrets, 
nevertheless  in  the  case  of  Freemasonry  the 
sworn  testimonies  of  honorable  men,  corroborated 
by  many  well  established  facts,  are  unquestion¬ 
ably  true.  If  the  Masons  are  entirely  innocent 
of  these  charges,  they  can  easily  disprove  them 
by  simply  producing  their  ritual.  But  we  need 
no  other  testimony  than  their  very  ritual  to 
condemn  them  as  guilty  of  rash,  unlawful,  horrid 
and  even  ridiculous  oaths. 

Furthermore,  Thomas,  suppose  you  knew  from 
your  personal  experience  that  a  certain,  well 
organized  body  is  secretly  plotting  against  the 
interests  of  society,  would  any  sane  man  call  it 
treason,  if  you  revealed  the  fact? 


SECRECY  AND  OATH. 


27 


Thomas:  By  no  means,  Father  ;  however,  is  it 
not  highly  probable  that  the  Masons  changed 
their  oath  after  it  became  public  property,  just 
like  they  change  signs  and  grips ,  from  time  to 
time?  This  again  would  leave  us  in  ignorance  as 
to  the  oath. 

Father:  Suppose  they  have,  for  this  reason, 
changed  the  form  of  their  oaths,  that  would  not 
change  the  character  of  Freemasonry,  because  its 
oaths  would  be  still  unlawful,  rash  and  criminal, 
since  the  Masons  would  take  these  oaths  without 
lawful  authority,  would  thereby  bind  themselves 
to  perform  what  might  prove  not  only  forbidden 
by  the  divine  commandments  and  contrary  to  the 
dictates  of  their  own  conscience,  but  also  danger¬ 
ous  to  and  subversive  of  all  lawful^  constituted 
authority  and  even  of  the  Church  of  God  and  of 
society  itself. 

Let  us  not  forget  that  Freemasonry,  in  its  or¬ 
dinary  form,  has  thirty-three  degrees,  and  that  to 
the  reception  of  each  of  these  thirty-three  degrees 
is  annexed  the  taking  of  an  oath  of  secrecy  and 
absolutely  blind  obedience.  If  Freemasonry  is 
only  a  benevolent  and  philanthropic  organization, 
why  are  all  these  secret  oaths  prescribed  and 
taken  ?  Are  they  necessary  for  the  performance  of 
benevolent  and  philanthropic  actions?  The  Sisters 
of  Charity,  of  Mercy  and  other  religious  Orders 
consecrated  to  the  care  and  relief  of  the  poor,  the 
sick,  the  orphans,  the  aged,  and  of  all  the  ills 
that  afflict  the  human  family,  perform  a  hundred 
thousand  times  more  and  greater  acts  of  charity 
for  the  relief  and  welfare  of  mankind  than  all  the 


28 


SECRET  SOCIETIES. 


Masonic  Lodges  in  the  world,  and  that  without 
taking  a  single  secret  oath.  Before  taking  their 
vows,  these  religious  know  beforehand  all  their 
obligations,  and  do  not  blindly  bind  themselves 
to  do  either  that  which  they  have  no  idea  of,  or 
that  which  is  contrary  to  the  dictates  of  their  con¬ 
science  or  opposed  to  the  laws  of  God,  and  their 
vows  are  neither  secret  nor  taken  in  secret,  for 
they  are  just  and  honorable,  and  need  not  the 
concealment  of  darkness.  But  the  Masons  need 
secrecy  and  darkness  for  their  benevolent  and 
‘philanthropic  works,  and  take  oath  upon  oath, 
binding  themselves  blindly  to  perform  in  the 
future  things  of  which  they  have  no  idea,  and 
which  may  be  repugnant  to  justice,  equity  and 
to  their  own  consciences,  if  they  still  have  any. 
If  Masonry  is  honorable,  why  this  secrecy  ?  why 
these  multiplied  oaths  ?  Ah  !  Masonry  is  some¬ 
thing  so  dark,  that  it  cannot  bear  the  light,  that 
it  cannot  trust  its  own  members  in  the  per¬ 
formance  of  its  benevolent  aims  without  binding 
them  by  repeated  oaths  ! 

Thomas:  This  may  be  called  swearing  with  a 
vengeance. 

Father:  Yes;  if  this  is  not  “calling  the  name 
of  the  Lord,  thy  God,  in  vain,”  I  must  confess,  I 
am  at  a  loss  to  know  what  it  is.  Remember,  too, 
the  oaths  refer  to  the  future  as  well  as  to  the 
present.  In  other  words  this  means  :  it  matters 
not,  how  wicked  our  designs  may  be  in  the 
future,  how  contrary  to  the  dictates  of  my  con¬ 
science,  I  shall  give  my  consent  by  my  silence. 

Thomas :  To  me  this  is  an  eye-opener — evidently 


SECRECY  AND  OATH. 


29 


✓ 


such  reckless  swearing  is  unpardonable  in  a  man 
who  remembers  the  first  lessons  of  his  little 
catechism.  Ignorance ,  of  course,  is  not  bliss ,  but, 
it  does  seem  to  me,  it  will  excuse  many  violating 
the  second  commandment  at  the  very  first  step 
towards  a  secret  Lodge.  Besides,  we  must  not 
lose  sight  of  the  fact  that  the  forbidden  societies 
instil  religious  principles  and  have  regular  ser¬ 
vices,  prescribed  by  a  ritual  in  charge  of  the  ap¬ 
pointed  chaplain ,  etc.  Every  one  knows  this  and, 
therefore,  it  will  not  do  to  say,  they  discard  all 
religion. 

Father:  Ignorance  may  excuse  to  some  extent, 
but  gross  ignorance  will  not  do  so,  especially,  in 
the  case  under  consideration.  A  man,  like  your¬ 
self,  who  has  studied  his  catechism,  who  has  at¬ 
tended  the  Catholic  school,  who  has  heard  time 
and  again  from  the  Catholic  pulpit ;  ‘  ‘Thou  shalt 
not  take  the  name  of  the  Lord  thy  God  in  vain’  ’ : 
this  man,  I  say,  cannot  take  the  oath  in  question 
on  the  plea  of  ignorance  ;  if  he  does,  it  is  gross, 
culpable  ignorance.  As  to  religion,  it  is  fre¬ 
quently  hurled  into  our  teeth  by  these  blind 
votaries  of  secrecy.  A  certain  nominal  Catholic 
had  the  impertinence  to  say  in  my  presence  and, 
at  a  public  meeting  :  “Since  I  joined  a  lodge  I 
have  more  religion  than  I  was  wont  to  have.” 
The  truth  is,  he  never  before  had  more  than  was 
absolutely  necessary  to  keep  his  head  above 
water.  Now  he  has  scarcely  enough  to  retain 
the  shadow  of  a  claim  his  forefathers  had  on  a 
lot  in  the  Catholic  cemetery.  He  used  to  go  to 
Mass  on  Sundays  and  he  was  in  the  habit  of  ap- 


30 


SECRET  SOCIETIES. 


proaching  the  Holy  Table  once  or  twice  a  year. 
Now  he  has  so  much  religion,  that  he  has  dis¬ 
pensed  with  duties  imposed  upon  us  by  God 
Himself. 

I  know  of  another  whom  we  had  to  throw  over¬ 
board,  because  he  was  not  worth  a  straw.  He  fell 
into  a  Knights  of  Pythias  lodge  and  forthwith  he 
was  made  chaplain.  Give  him  credit  for  one 
thing,  however,  even  as  chaplain  he  never  made 
the  proclamation:  “Now  I  have  more  religion 
than  I  used  to  have.”  No  doubt,  Ingersoll  him¬ 
self  would  accept  a  chaplaincy  in  a  lodge-room 
and  wear  the  insignia  with  becoming  dignity. 


CHAPTER  III. 


Chaplaincy. 

Father:  By  the  way  who  appoints  the  chap¬ 
lains,  whose  office  it  is  to  administer  to  the  living 
and  dead  ? 

Thomas:  The  Hodge,  of  course. 

Father:  True  ;  but,  whence  have  its  members 
the  authority  to  appoint  any  one  to  an  office  of  a 
religious  character  ?  It  was  the  will  of  our  divine 
Saviour  that  all  men,  at  all  times,  and  in  all 
places  .should  accept  His  doctrines  and  thereby 
attain  life  everlasting.  “Go  ye,  therefore,  and 
teach  all  nations  ....  teaching  them  to  observe  all 
things  whatsoever  I  have  commanded  you.” 
(Math,  xxviif,  19.  20.)  “Go  ye  unto  the  whole 
world,  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature.” 
(Mark,  xvi,  15.)  What  a  task  !  However,  that 
the  work  might  be  successfully  carried  on  “to 
the  consummation  of  the  world,”  He  com¬ 
missioned  the  Twelve  as  He  had  been  com¬ 
missioned :  “As  the  Father  hath  send  Me,  I  also 
send  you.”  (John  xx,  21.)  The  apostles  then 
were  authorized  to  teach  the  people  and  the  people 
in  turn  were  bound  to  obey.  “He  that  believeth, 
and  is  baptized,  shall  be  saved  :  but  he  that  be¬ 
lieveth  not  shall  be  condemned.  ’  ’  (Mark  xvi,  16. ) 
“He  that  heareth  you,  heareth  Me  :  and  he  that 
despiseth  you,  despiseth  Me.  And  he  that  des- 
piseth  Me,  despiseth  Him  that  sent  Me.”  (kuke, 
x,  16.) 


(30 


32 


SECRET  SOCIETIES. 


Thomas:  This  is  undeniable :  but  who  was 
authorized  to  issue  these  papers  after  the  ascent  of 
of  our  Lord? 

Father:  Following  in  the  footsteps  of  their 
Master,  the  Apostles  did  so.  “ Separate  Me  Saul 
and  Barnabas,  for  the  work  to  which  I  have 
taken  them.  Then  they,  fasting  and  praying, 
and  imposing  their  hands  upon  them,  sent  them 
away.”  (Acts  xiii,  2.  3.)  St.  Paul  reminds 
Timothy  of  the  duty  imposed  upon  him  by  the 
imposition  of  hands  in  the  following  unequivocal 
language  :  “I  admonish  thee  that  thou  stir  up  the 
grace  of  God,  which  is  in  thee  by  the  imposition 
of  my  hands.”  (Tim.  ii.  1,6.)  I11  the  Acts  we 
read :  “The  Holy  Ghost  hath  placed  you  bishops 
to  rule  the  Church  of  God.  ”  (Tim.  xx,  28.)  Yes, 
in  writing  to  the  Romans,  St.  Paul  says  :  “How 
shall  they  believe  him  of  whom  they  have  not 
heard?  And  how  shall  they  hear  without  a 
preacher  ?  And  how  can  they  preach  unless  they 
be  sent?”  (Rom.  x,  14.  15.) 

Thomas:  This  is  very  plain.  But,  to  use  the 
same  expression,  could  the  Lodges  not  send  ? 

Father:  No;  because  the}'-  have  not  been  sent. 
It  would  be  conferring  something  they  have  not 
received.  To  give,  you  must  have. 

Thomas:  This  looks  reasonable  ;  however,  this 
is  a  progressive  age,  and  it  seems  to  me  the 
churches  ought  to  keep  abreast  with  the  progress 
of  the  world. 

Father:  It  is  nonsense  to  talk  about  churches. 
Christ  established  but  one  Church.  ‘‘Thou  art 
Peter,  and  upon  this  rock  I  will  build  My  church , 
and  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it.” 


CHAPLAINCY. 


33 


(Math,  xviii,  18.)  In  fact  He  could  not  establish 
more  than  one  without  contradicting  Himself,  and 
this  would  not  be  'progressive.  In  short,  truth  is 
not  progressive — truth  remains  truth — 2  x  2  will 
be  4  a  thousand  years  hence*  as  well  as  it  was  20 
centuries  ago — 2  x  2  will  never  equal  5 — to  say  so 
would  be  retrogressive.  Thomas,  do  not  enlist  in 
the  retrogressive  army,  composed  of  half-witted 
and  half-educated  fellows — be  progressive  by  com¬ 
plying  with  the  will  of  God,  which  is  the  embodi¬ 
ment  of  truth  and  genuine  progress.  To  tell  the 
truth,  we  Catholics  are  keeping  apace  with  the 
times.  County  officers,  in  our  own  day,  qualify 
before  they  take  possession  of  an  office  within  the 
gift  of  the  people.  Perhaps  the  lowest  office  in 
the  land  is  that  of  constable  ;  yet,  even  he  must 
qualify — be  sent.  Bvery  bishop  and  priest  in  this 
great  country  can  show  his  papers  ;  the  former 
lias  his  from  the  Pope,  successor  of  St.  Peter  ; 
the  latter  from  his  Bishop  ;  but  the  chaplain  has 
his  from  the  Lodge,  which  in  turn  has  none  to 
produce  :  therefore  his  are  null  and  void  ;  there¬ 
fore,  he  assumes  a  title  to  which  he  has  no  claim 
whatever  ;  therefore  the  words  of  the  Highpriest 
Azarias  are  applicable  to  him  :  “It  doth  not  be¬ 
long  to  thee,  Ozias,  to  burn  incense  to  the  Lord, 
but  to  the  priests,  that  is  to  the  sons  of  Aaron, 
who  are  consecrated  for  this  ministry  :  go  out  of 
the  sanctuary,  do  not  despise  :  for  this  thing  shall 
not  be  accounted  to  thy  glory  by  the  Lord  God” 
(II.  Paralip.  xxvi,  18.)  Furthermore  St.  Paul 
says  :  “Neither  doth  any  man  take  the  honor  to 
himself,  but  he  that  is  called  by  God,  as  Aaron 
was,”  (Hebr.  v,  4.) 


34 


SECRET  SOCIETIES. 


Thomas:  You  must  bear  in  mind  that  some 
Preachers  belong  to  secret  societies. 

Father:  I  am  well  aware  of  it.  But  who  are 
they?  You  do  not  consider  yourself  authorized  to 
; preach ,  and  they  have  no  more  authority  than  you 
have.  When  Christ  commissioned  the  Apostles 
(and  their  successors) ,  the  Preachers  were  not  there 
to  receive  the  papers — they  came  1,500  years 
later.  By  the  way,  the  Knights  of  Pythias  are 
not  content  with  an  ordinary  Chaplain:  they  have 
a  Prelate ,  who  leads  in  prayer.  He  is  the  ex¬ 
pounder  of  the  Pythian  religion  and  its  mysteries, 
“the  expounder  of  the  emblem,  symbol  or  skele¬ 
ton  of  their  honored  and  revered  Patron  Saint , 

Pythias . he  administers  the  Pythian  oath 

and  explains  it ;  he  presides  at  the  ceremonies  of 
this  religion,  and  the  order  so  insists  on  the 
services  of  its  prelate  at  the  death  of  members, 
that  it  threatens  poor  widows  or  relatives  not  to 
pay  death-benefits  unless  the  deceased  member 
be  buried  with  the  prayers  and  ceremonies  of  this 
Pythian  prelate.  ’  ’  (Archbp.  J anssens. ) 

You,  Thomas,  know  what  a  great  dignitary  a 
prelate  is  in  the  Catholic  Church  ;  you  also  know 
that  every  shoemaker,  bricklayer  and  spittoon 
cleaner  may  become  a  prelate  among  the  Pythians, 
and  is  not  this  religious  mockery?  Is  it  not  pre¬ 
sumption  011  the  part  of  the  prelate ,  and  is  it  not 
sinful  in  you  to  encourage  such  unbounded  pre¬ 
sumption  ? 

Thomas:  Looking  at  it  from  this  standpoint, 
the  prelacy  seems  to  be  out  of  place.  So  far  as  I 
know,  however,  the  Bible  is  the  Book  in  almost 
all  secret  societies. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


The  Bible. 

Father:  What  Bible ;  the  Protestant  or  the 
Catholic  ? 

Thomas:  Now,  Father,  do  not  be  such  a  stickler 
— hair-splitter ;  you  know  there  is  not  much 
difference  between  the  one  and  the  other. 

Father  :  I  do  know  there  is  a  great  difference, 
and  you  ought  to  know  it. 

Let  us  examine  the  question  more  closely  : 


Catholic  Prot. 

version.  version. 

No.  Chap.  No.  Chap. 

The  book  of  Esther  has  16  10 

The  book  of  Daniel  has  14  12 


This  in  itself  would  be  quite  a  difference  ;  but  in 
the  Prot.  version  the  following  books  are  wanting 
altogether  : 

Tobias,  Judith, 

Wisdom,  Ecclesiasticus, 

Baruch,  I.  Machabees, 

II.  Machabees. 

Thomas  :  I  was  ignorant  of  this  fact ;  however, 
the  difference  is  immaterial  if  Catholics  and 
Protestants  agree  as  to  the  New  Testament. 

Father  :  But,  they  do  not  agree.  In  the  Cath¬ 
olic  Bible  we  read  :  “Have  not  we  power  to  lead 
about  a  ivoman ,  a  sister?’’  (I.  Cor.  ix,  5.)  I11  the 
Prot.  Bible  woman  is  rendered  wife.  A  wife  is  al- 

(35) 


3^ 


SECRET  SOCIETIES. 


ways  a  woman  ;  blit  a  woman  is  not  always  a 
wife  :  quite  a  difference. 

Again  ;  “Whosoever  shall  eat  this  bread,  or 
drink  the  chalice  of  the  Lord  unworthily,  shall 
be  guilty  of  the  body  and  blood  of  the  Lord.  ’  ’ 
(I.  Cor.  xi,  27.)  Instead  of  or  we  read  in  the 
Prot.  Bible  and.  Mark  the  difference  ;  if  and  is 
correct,  we  must  partake  of  the  species  of  wine  as 
well  as  of  the  species  of  bread  ;  if  not,  it  is  at 
pleasure  or  left  to  the  decision  of  competent 
authority. 

To  find  many  differences  of  this  nature,  read 
Ward’s  Errata.  Let  me  call  your  attention  to 
one  discrepancy  in  the  Old  Testament,  which  is 
very  palpable.  I11  Gen.  xxxvii,  35,  we  read  : 
“I  will  go  down  to  my  son  into  hell  mourning.” 
Hell  is  rendered  grave  in  the  Prot.  version. 
Evidently  Jacob  did  not  mean  grave ,  for  he  was 
under  the  impression  that  his  son  Joseph  had 
been  “devoured  by  a  wild  beast.” 

Thomas  :  The  discrepancy  between  the  two 
bibles  seems  to  be  greater  than  I  was  aware  of. 

Father  :  Yes  ;  and  either  the  Catholic  Bible  is 
true,  or  it  is  not  ;  if  it  is  true,  the  other  is  as 
false  as  a  counterfeit,  and  apt  to  deceive,  and 
consequently  it  is  wrong  to  make  use  of  it.  Just 
imagine  y ourself  in  a  lodge,  where  there  is  a 
corrupted  or  counterfeit  Word  of  God. 

The  plain  and  unvarnished  truth  is  this  :  most 
of  the  votaries  of  secret  societies,  especially  the 
more  shining  lights,  do  not  believe  in  the  Bible. 

Thomas  :  Why  would  they  keep  it  if,  as  a  rule, 
they  do  not  believe  in  or  are  opposed  to  it? 

Father  :  As  a  bait.  They  know  that  people  in 


THE  BIBEE. 


37 


general  have  more  or  less  regard  for  religion  and 
the  Bible,  and  that  recruits  would  be  “few  and 
far  between,”  were  not  some  religious  induce¬ 
ments  held  out. 

However,  Bro.  C.  Van  Schaick  writes  in  the 
official  Dutch  Freemason’s  Almanac  for  1872  : 

‘•As  matters  now  stand,  the  presence  of  the  Bible  on 
our  altars  is  an  empty  form  ....  From  whatever  point 
of  view  we  regard  the  Bible,  we  do  not  hesitate  to 
declare  openly,  that  in  our  reunions  it  is  out  of  place, 
once  and  forever;  since  the  doctrines  of  humanity  now 
occupy  the  most  prominent  positions,  and  are  taught  as 
the  best  method  of  ameliorating  the  conditions  of  man¬ 
kind.” 

Thomas  :  I  have  been  told  that  Freemasons  are 
required  to  pay  their  respects  to  the  Bible. 

Father  :  You  have  been  told  so  ;  but  it  is  anti- 
masonic  : 

“To  require  that  a  candidate  profess  a  belief  in  the 
divine  authenticity  of  the  Bible  or  a  state  in  the  future 
of  rewards  and  punishment,  is  a  serious  innovation  in 

the  very  body  of  Masonry . It  is  anti-masonic  to 

require  any  religious  test,  other  than  that  the  candidate 
should  believe  in  God,  the  Creator  and  Governor  of  the 
Universe.”  (Chase’s  Digest  of  Masonic  Law,  page  208.) 
And  yet  they  will  not  refuse  admission  to  open  atheists! 

When  the  Apprentice’s  Degree  is  conferred  the 
following  question  is  asked  by  the  Worshipful 
Master  :  “What  furniture  has  a  lodge?”  Can¬ 
didate  :  “The  Holy  Bible,  square  and  compass.” 
The  Bible  then  is  a  piece  of  furniture.  “Every 
well  regulated  lodge  must  contain  a  Bible,  Square 
and  Compasses,  which  are  technically  said  to 
constitute  its  furniture.”  (Mackey’s  Eexicon, 
Art.  Furniture.) 

I  have  said  enough  about  the  Bible  to  satisfy 
the  most  fastidious. 


CHAPTER  V. 


Religion. 

Thomas :  Even  if  we  have  good  reasons  to 
object  to  the  unauthorized  chaplains  and  to  a 
Bible  not  approved,  we  must  admit,  these  various 
secret  confraternities  have  nothing  against  religion; 
on  the  contrary,  they  often,  and  loudly  profess  it. 

Father :  Those  who  content  themselves  with 
“having  nothing  against  religion”  are  an  in¬ 
different  class  of  people  ;  in  other  words,  they  are 
neither  for  God  nor  against  God.  In  this  kind 
of  society  it  is  dangerous  to  move;  for  indifference 
begets  indifference.  Thomas,  were  I  to  conduct 
myself  coolly  toward  you,  you  would  feel  yourself 
slighted,  and  ere  long  you  would  call  my  atten¬ 
tion  to  it.  God,  also,  is  not  and  cannot  be  in¬ 
different  as  to  our  attitude  toward  Him.  There¬ 
fore,  Jesus  Christ  said  :  “He  that  is  not  for  Me  is 
against  Me.” 

As  to  the  religious  character,  it  cannot  be  denied 
the  societies  in  question.  They  are  well  aware 
that  it  would  be  bad  policy  to  declare  war  openly 
against  Christianity  in  a  country  professedly 
Christian,  at  least,  as  long  as  recruits  are  neces¬ 
sary.  Let  me  quote  right  here  a  Protestant, 
Professor  Blanchard  of  Chicago  : 

“Another  fact  which  will  very  pleasantly  appear  to 
the  candid  searcher  after  truth,  is  that  these  organiza- 

(38) 


RELIGION. 


39 


tions  are  religious  in  character.  While  this  is  true  of 
all  of  them,  it  is  in  a  marked  degree  true  of  Free¬ 
masonry  and  as  this  organization  is  the  mother  and 
model  of  other  lodges,  a  detailed  examination  of  its  pro¬ 
fessions  and  claims  in  this  regard  seems  needful. 

In  the  first  place,  the  mere  looker-on  who  had  never 
read  at  all  would  arrive  at  the  conclusion  that  Free¬ 
masonry  was  a  religious  organization.  The  various 
Masonic  bodies  have  chaplains,  prelates  and  priests. 
All  of  them  have  what  they  call  an  altar.  One  of  them 
has  a  baptismal  service,  by  which  the  children  of  mem¬ 
bers  of  the  organization  are  in  a  sense  inducted  into  it 
while  yet  in  infancy.  The  burial  services  which  are 
prepared  for  them  in  case  of  death  of  members  of  the 
organization  intimate  that  the  person  who  has  belonged 
to  it  and  died,  is  sure  of  the  eternity  of  happiness  be¬ 
cause  of  his  relation  to  the  order.  So  clear  is  the  im¬ 
pression  that  ordinary  Masons  who  have  no  interest  in 
denying  the  truth,  say  without  hesitation  that  a  man 
who  lives  up  to  his  Masonic  obligations  is  sure  of 
heaven.  Or,  as  they  more  frequently  put  it,  ‘Masonry 
is  good  enough  religion  for  me.’ 

These  religious  officers  and  implements,  together 
with  the  impression  produced  upon  common  men  by 
the  services  of  the  order,  are  two  proofs  that  this  lodge 
is  religious  in  character.  But  the  most  decisive  evi¬ 
dence  is  contained  in  the  statements  of  the  learned  and 
influential  men  of  the  order.  For  example,  we  find  in 
Mackey’s  Lexicon  of  Freemasonry,  page  369,  an  article 
entitled ‘Prayer.’  The  author  says  :  ‘All  the  ceremonies 
of  our  order  are  prefaced  and  terminated  with  prayer, 
because  Masonry  is  a  religious  institution.’  Mr.  Daniel 
Sickles,  a  thirty-third  degree  Mason,  who  has  occupied 
many  if  not  most  of  the  offices  in  the  higher  bodies  in 
New  York  State,  says  in  his  notes  on  the  third  degree: 
‘We  now  find  man  complete  in  morality  and  intelli¬ 
gence,  with  a  state  of  religion  added,  to  insure  him  the 
protection  of  the  Deity  and  to  guard  him  against  going 
astray.  These  three  degrees  thus  form  a  perfect  and 
harmonious  whole;  nor  can  we  conceive  that  anything 
can  be  suggested  more  which  the  soul  of  man  requires.’ 


40 


SECRET  SOCIETIES. 


These  words  are  found  in  his  Free  Mason’s  Monitor,  on 
page  97  and  98.” 

Thomas  :  I  know  very  little  about  the  Free¬ 
masons  ;  but  I  have  every  reason  to  believe  that 
the  Pythian  Knights  form  a  religious  sect ;  they 
have  a  Ritual,  in  which  there  is  a  Chapter  taken 
from  the  Bible  ;  at  their  meetings  they  hold  a 
kind  of  divine  .service  :  the  society  wishes  to  instil 
morality  into  its  members  :  a  Venerable  Prelate 
conducts  the  religious  ceremonies  ;  virtue  is  ex¬ 
alted,  and  the  love  of  our  neighbor  is  duly 
implanted  in  every  heart.  Now,  Father,  you  are 
bound  to  concede  that  these  are  good  things  and, 
consequently,  these  people  are  not  opposed  to 
religion.  We  must  give  even  the  devil  his  dues. 

Father :  Thomas,  your  speech  sounds  much 
better  than  it  is.  Let  us  analyze  it.  Remember, 
however,  you  and  I  are  Catholics,  and  we  must 
look  at  the  matter  in  question  from  a  Catholic 
standpoint ;  in  other  words  we  must  remain  con¬ 
sistent.  You  say,  the  Ritual  contains  a  chapter 
taken  from  the  Bible.  I  ask,  from  what  Bible, 
the  Catholic  or  the  Protestant?  We  have  seen, 
there  is  quite  a  difference  between  the  one  and 
the  other.  Hither  the  Protestant  Version  is  true, 
or  it  is  not ;  if  it  is  not,  as  you  and  I  believe, 
then  it  is  false  and  counterfeit ;  and  you,  Thomas, 
lend  your  influence,  great  or  little,  to  something 
.that  is  false,  and  consequently,  opposed  to  God — 
the  eternal  Truth. 

You  say,  they  hold  a  kind  of  divine  service.  I  in 
turn  ask  what  service  ?  Is  it  a  Protestant  service, 
a  Jewish  service  or  a  Pagan  service?  I  have  my 


RELIGION.  41 

% 

doubts  whether  the  “Our  Father,”  a  prayer 
taught  by  the  Redeemer  of  the  world,  is  ever 
said.  I  should  like  to  know  what  per  cent,  can 
recite  the  Apostles’  Creed  by  heart  ;  of  course  the 
“Hail  Mary”  is  not  so  much  as  thought  of ;  and 
imagine,  if  you  can,  a  Pythian  prelate  saying 
Mass,  which  is  the  august  sacrifice  of  the  New 
Raw.  A  divine  service  or  worship  not  in  harmony 
with  the  Catholic  is  false,  and  therefore  un¬ 
lawful. 

You  call  my  attention  to  the  Pythian  code  of 
morality.  I  ask  again,  what  is  it?  O11  what  is  it 
based  ?  O11  the  Ten  Commandments  f  But,  how 
many  Knights  know  the  commandments?  Even 
if  they  do  know  them,  they  only  know  them  cor¬ 
rupted.  To  convince  yourself  of  this,  compare 
the  Protestant  Bible  with  the  Catholic — you  will 
find  a  stumbling  block  in  the  very  first  com¬ 
mandment,  which  they  have,  contrary  to  all 
common  sense,  divided  into  two,  in  order  to 
forge  a  condemnation  of  Catholic  doctrines. 

You  tell  me,  the  love  of  our  neighbor  is  deeply 
implanted.  Yes,  but  it  is  the  love  of  the  next 
door  neighbor,  a  Pythian — the  Samaritan  is  alto¬ 
gether  overlooked,  though  our  Saviour  Himself 
holds  him  up  as  a  model  for  our  conduct. 

As  to  the  highly  spoken-of  virtues,  what  are 
they?  Are  they  supernatural  or  merely  natural? 
Is  it  the  virtue  of  faith  ?  If  so,  I  may  ask,  what 
faith  ?  The  circumcised,  the  baptized  and  non- 
baptized,  and  atheists  belong  to  secret  societies. 
All,  as  far  as  religious  convictions  are  concerned, 
may  be  members  in  g ood- standing .  What  a  relig- 


42 


SECRET  SOCIETIES. 


ions  confusion!  Is  it  the  virtue  of  obedience? 
But,  the  Catholic  Church  is  ignored.  “He  that 
will  not  hear  the  Church,  let  him  be  to  thee  as 
the  heathen  and  publican.  ”  Is  it  the  virtue  of 
chastity  ?  But  a  man  may  be  divorced  from  his 
better  half  to-day,  marry  a  more  congenial  person 
to-morrow  and  be  chaplain  in  any  lodge  the  day 
after  to-morrow.  Of  course,  this  is  not  St.  Paul’s 
doctrine,  for  he  says  :  ‘  ‘To  them  that  are  married, 
not  I,  but  the  Cord  commandeth,  that  the  wife 
depart  not  from  her  husband  :  and  if  she  depart, 
that  she  remain  unmarried,  or  be  reconciled  to 
her  husband.  And  let  not  the  husband  put  away 
his  wife.”  (I  Cor.  vii,  io.  n.)  However,  what 
do  lodges  care  about  St.  Paul! 

Thomas  :  It  is  astonishing  how  widely  people 
differ  in  their  opinions.  Secret  brother-hoods  are 
everlastingly  calling  our  attention  to  their  virtues; 
'you,  on  the  other  hand,  .show  that  they  are 
devoid  of  Christian  virtues,  which  indeed  every 
follower  of  Christ  is  bound  to  practise. 

Father :  Yes,  and  it  is  amusing,  how  some 
sharks  can  get  up,  address  the  best  men  of  the 
community  in  high-sounding  words,  badly  under¬ 
stood,  and  actually  make  them  believe  that  the 
world  moves  in  them  and  through  them,  and 
that  they  are  virtue  personified.  No  doubt,  the 
Grand  Masters  at  headquarters  must  smile,  when 
they  see  the  shekles,  monthly  dues  of  the  duped, 
pour  into  the  treasury,  out  of  which  they,  hurrah¬ 
ing  for  “our  grand  order’’  make  the  first  and 
the  biggest  grab.  But  we  are  off  the  track — 
pardon  the  digression. 


RELIGION. 


43 


Thomas  :  Father,  you  are  extremely  hard  to 
please.  When  I  say,  that  the  secret  .societies  are 
not  opposed  to  religion,  I  do  not  mean,  of  course, 
that  pure  Catholicity  is  taught  in  any  lodge. 

Father  :  And  I  say,  do  37ml  wish  to  be  where  it 
is  taught  impurely?  where  the  wheat  is  mixed 
with  the  chaff,  truth  with  falsehood  ? 

Thomas  :  Broad  Christianity  is  gaining  ground 
in  this  country  ;  in  our  day,  people  like  to  stand 
on  a  wide  platform. 

Father  :  A  wide  platform  is  a  good  thing  in  its 
place  ;  but  when  the  platform  is  so  wide,  that  you 
cannot  find  the  mafi  you  are  looking  for,  it  is  a 
source  of  inconvenience.  This  is  applicable  to 
people  imbued  with  ideas  of  broad  Christianity  : 
their  religious  views  are  unsettled,  their  tenets 
are  indefinite  and  undefined,  their  pet  doctrines 
of  to-day  are  thrown  overboard  to-morrow.  This 
is  what  the  world  calls  broad  Christianity,  which 
in  reality  is  nonsense.  Either  God  has  made 
revelations,  or  He  has  not  ;  if  He  has,  we  are 
bound  to  accept  them  as  they  have  been  made  ; 
we  have  no  right  to  widen  or  contract  them.  This 
is  reasonable.  You  may  consider  me  hard  to 
please  ;  but  I  believe,  and  I  believe  it  firmly,  that 
lodges  ha.ve  no  more  right  to  talk  nonsense  than 
we,  the  profane ,  have.  What  do  you  say, 
Thomas  ? 

Thomas  :  Nonsense,  of  course,  is  nonsense 
wherever  it  may  be  found.  But,  Father,  they 
tell  me,  that  one  of  the  very  first  questions  put  to 
an  applicant,  rapping  at  the  door  of  a  secret 
society  is  :  “Do  you  believe  in  God?’ 


44 


secret  societies. 


Father  :  This  is  a  very  silly  question,  for  it 
requires  but  little  intelligence  to  acknowledge 
the  existence  of  God.  However  many  members 
do  not  believe  in  Him.  For  instance  the  Jewish 
element  does  not  believe  in  the  second  person  of 
the  blessed  Trinity,  and  He  is  God.  And  are  not 
atheists  admitted  into  these  societies? 

Thomas  :  I  am  told  that  all  secret  organizations 
believe  in  a  Supreme  Being.  % 

Father  :  Freemasonry  believes  in  the  “Supreme 
Architect  of  the  Universe.  ’  ’  Who  is  that  Supreme 
Architect  of  the  Universe?  Is  it  God  the 
Creator  %  I  must  confess,  I  do  not  know  the 
masonic  meaning  of  this  expression. 

Thomas  :  Evidently,  it  means  the  Supreme  Be¬ 
ing ,  to  which  I  just  referred — I  mean  God. 

Father  :  In  the  first  place,  I  may  ask  :  why 
use  such  a  conglomeration  of  words  instead  of 
the  little  and  simple  word  God ,  understood  by  all 
men,  even  of  the  meanest  capacity  ? 

In  the  second  place,  by  Supreme  Architect  of 
the  Universe  they  may  understand  a  pantheistical 
God.'  Of  this  God  you  and  I  would  also  be  a 
factor  ;  in  other  words,  you  would  be,  having 
intelligence,  quite  a  respectable  piece  or  part  of 
the  Supreme  Architect  of  the  Universe. 

Thomas  :  Father,  this  would  be  ridiculous.  Do 
tell  me,  why  do  these  societies  talk  so  much  about 
religion  and  a  Supreme  Being? 

Father  :  To  hold  out  inducements  to  men  like 
yourself,  men  who  seem  to  be  “on  the  fence,” 
men  who  are  about  to  turn  their  backs  upon  the 
“One  fold  and  one  Shepherd”  and  fall  over  into 
the  Freemason  camp. 


RELIGION. 


45 


Again  let  me  quote  Professor  Blanchard  : 

“Persons,  however,  who  are  conversant  with  the  writ¬ 
ings  on  this  subject,  will  understand  that  while  Masonry 
distinctly  claims  a  religious  character,  and  professes  to 
send  those  who  conform  to  its  obligations  to  what  they 
call  the  Grand  Lodge  above  ;  the  organization  is,  clearly 
and  distinctively,  not  only  non-Christian,  but  anti- 
Christian.  This  is  evident  in  the  first  place,  from  the 
titles  and  regalia  which  are  used  by  the  fraternity.  The 
religion  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  humble,  serving  and 
aspires  to  be  useful  to  others.  The  religion  of  Free¬ 
masonry  is  proud,  vain  and  loves  display.  It  is  fairly 
stuffed  with  such  titles  as  worshipful  master,  grand 
master,  grand  high  priest,  grand  king,  prelate,  sover¬ 
eign,  etc . ” 

The  fact  that  the  religion  of  Freemasonry  can¬ 
not  be  Christian  again  comes  out  in  the  member¬ 
ship  of  the  order.  A  man  may  unite  with  the 
Church  and  be  a  bad  man,  but  he  must  also  be  a 
hypocrite,  for  he  must  at  least  profess  sorrow  for 
his  sins,  love  for  God,  love  for  his  fellow-men 
and  a  purpose  to  live  a  holy  life.  No  church 
will  receive  a  man  unless  he  so  convenants ;  but 
men  are  received  into  the  Masonic  church  on  the 
payment  of  an  initiation  fee  and  taking  the  oath 
without  any  purpose  expressed  or  understood  to 
live  a  holy  life.  The  prayerless,  godless,  profane, 
drunken  members  of  the  lodges  do  not  break  any 
part  of  the  covenant  if  they  continue  in  their 
vices  and  sins. 

In  fact,  strange  as  it  may  appear,  Masons 
seem  quite  proud  to  say  that  pirates,  savages, 
robbers  and  murderers  are  members  of  their  order 
in  good  and  regular  standing.  The  book  entitled 
‘The  Mystic  Tie,’  containing  facts  and  opinions 


46 


SECRET  SOCIETIES. 


illustrating  the  character  and  tendency  of  Free¬ 
masonry,  edited  by  Albert  G.  Mackey,  who  is 
one  of  the  great  lights  of  Masonry  and  whose 
Lexicon  of  Freemasonry  has  already  been  men¬ 
tioned,  contains  we  believe  something  like  nine 
different  articles  showing  that  pirates,  savages, 
robbers,  murderers,  or  men  combining  two  or 
more  of  these  characters,  have  been  Masons  in 
good  standing  and  have  promptly  recognized 
their  Masonic  obligations  when  called  upon  to 
do  so.  It  does  not  require  argument  with  in¬ 
telligent  persons  to  show  that  an  organization 
admitting  persons  of  these  classes,  without  any 
professed  purpose  to  change  their  actions,  is 
not  Christian. 

Still  further,  explicit  statements  of  the  later 
Masonic  writers  contradict  directly  the  earliest 
authors  who  claim  the  Masonic  religion  is  Chris¬ 
tian.  Webb  says  in  the  quotation  above  made, 
that  Christians,  Mohammedans,  Jews,  Buddhists, 
Pirates,  Confucians  and  pagans  in  general,  are 
all  eligible  to  Freemasonry. 

On  page  402  of  Mackey’s  Lexicon  of  Free¬ 
masonry,  above  quoted,  under  the  article  of 

‘Religion’  the  author  says:  ‘The  religion  of  Free¬ 
masonry  is  pure  theism,  on  which  its  different  members 
may  ingraft  their  own  peculiar  opinions;  but  they  are 
not  permitted  to  introduce  them  into  the  lodge  or  to  con¬ 
nect  their  truth  or  falsehood  with  the  truth  of  Masonry.’ 

This  statement  is  of  high  authority,  and  its  pur¬ 
port  is  perfectly  plain.  The  Christian  who  joins 
the  Masonic  lodge  may  engraft  his  belief  in 
Christ  on  the  deism  of  Masonry,  but  he  must  not 
introduce  his  Christianity  into  the  lodge,  nor 


RELIGION. 


47 


connect  his  truth  or  falsehood  with  that  of  Free¬ 
masonry.  (Freemasonry  and  kindred  societies 
ignore  the  Christian  religion  altogether,  hence 
their  religion  is  anti-Christian  and  false,  more 
false  then  Protestantism  itself.) 

The  article,  ‘Blazing  Star,’  on  the  6ist  page 

of  this  same  Lexicon,  says:  ‘Formerly  the  blazing 
star  was  said  to  commemorate  that  light  which  appeared 
to  guide  the  wise  men  of  the  East  to  the  place  of  our 
Saviour’s  nativity  :  but  this  allusion,  however  beautiful, 
interferes  with  the  universal  character  of  Masonry  ;  it  is 
now  generally  omitted  and  the  blazing  star  is  said  to  be 
an  emblem  of  Divine  Providence.  That  is,  formerly  the 
ritual  of  the  lodge  contained  here  a  recognition  of  our 
Saviour,  but  as  this  would  interfere  with  the  universal 
character  of  Masonr}^,  it  is  to  be  stricken  out.  In 
Chase’s  Digest  of  Masonic  Law,  on  pages  207  and  208, 
the  writer  says :  “The  Jews,  the  Chinese,  the  Turks, 
each  rejects  either  the  New  Testament  or  the  Old,  or 
both,  and  yet  we  see  no  reason,  why  they  should  not  be 
made  Masons.”  In  fact  Blue  Lodge  Masonry  has 
nothing  whatever  to  do  with  the  Bible.  It  is  not 
founded  on  the  Bible.  If  it  was,  it  would  not  be 
Masonry.  It  would  be  something  else.” 

Thomas  :  In  Morris’  Dictionary,  Article 
“Prayer”  we  read: 

“Every  important  undertaking  in  Masonry  is  both 
begun  and  completed  with  prayer.  The  prayers  given 
in  the  hand-books  of  the  Blue  Lodge  are  such  as  in 
which  all  Masons,  whatever  their  religious  faith,  may 
unite.  In  the  orders  of  Knighthood  the  prayers  are  as 
a  matter  of  course  strictly  and  intensely  Christian.  In 
the  third  degree  a  sublime  prayer,  adapted  from  the 
14th  chapter  of  Job,  is  made  in  American  lodges  an 
essential  part  of  the  ritual  of  Raising.” — 

Father  :  We  also  read  : 

“The  truth  is,  that  Masonry  is  undoubtedly  a  religious 
institution- -its  religion  being  of  that  universal  kind  in 


48 


SECRET  SOCIETIES. 


which  all  men  agree,  and  which,  handed  down  through 
a  long  succession  of  ages  from  that  ancient  priesthood 
who  first  taught  it,  embraces  the  great  tenets  of  the  ex¬ 
istence  of  God,  the  immortality  of  the  soul, — tenets 
which  by  its  peculiar  symbolic  language,  it  has  pre¬ 
served  from  its  foundation,  and  still  continues  in  the 
same  beautiful  way  to  teach.  Beyond  this,  for  its 
religious  faith,  we  must  not  and  cannot  go.” — Mackey's 
Masonic  Jurisprudence,  page  95. 

“The  religion,  then,  of  Masonry  is  pure  theism  on 
which  its  different  members  engraft  their  own  pecu¬ 
liar  opinions  but  they  are  not  permitted  to  introduce 
them  into  the  lodge,  or  to  connect  their  truth  or  false¬ 
hood  writh  the  truth  of  Masonry.” — Mackey's  Lexicon, 
Art.  Religion. 

Some  lodges  go  a  step  farther : 

“I  affirm  that  the  name  of  God  is  a  word  void  of 
sense.” — Liege  Lodge ,  1865.  A.  Neut,  XI.  p.  287. 

“We  must  not  only  place  ourselves  above  different 
religions  but  above  all  belief  in  any  God  zvhatever." 
— Ibid,  228. 

“It  is  only  fools  who  speak  and  dream  still  of  a 
God.” — Ibid. 

Thomas :  This  may  be  true  of  European  Free¬ 
masons  ;  but  not  of  our  people. 

Father  :  Archbishop  Janssens  says  : 

“The  order  of  the  K.  of  P.  first  weakens,  then  de¬ 
stroys  the  faith  of  Catholics  ;  it  substitutes  the  religion 
of  man  for  the  revealed  religion  of  Christ;  it  ties  a  man 
with  an  iron  chain  of  oath  and  obedience  to  an  order, 
closely  allied  to  the  Freemasons;  its  chiefs  are  in  good 
standing  in  the  Masonic  fraternity  and  use  their  order 
fora  mere  pretence  by  which  to  draw  Catholics  to  the 
Podge  and  away  from  the  Church.” 

Thomas:  There  are  two  sides  to  every  question. 
From  a  religious  aspect,  ceremonies  in  all  lodges 
may  be  questionable  ;  but  every  convention  of 
men  presupposes  a  ceremonial  of  some  kind.  A 


RELIGION. 


49 


deaf  and  dumb  society  would  be  neither  in¬ 
structive  nor  entertaining.  Besides  they  claim 
these  ceremonies  have  a  deep  meaning. 

Father :  Nothing  more  interesting,  espec¬ 
ially  when  the  best  men  of  the  community  see 
the  following  performance  not  once,  but  twice 

and  three  times  :  “And  this  deponent  further 
saith,  that  each  candidate,  no  matter  what  may  be  his 
social  position,  is  obliged  to  submit  to  the  degrading 
ceremonies,  described  in  Freemasonry  Illustrated, 
consisting  in  the  first  or  Entered  Apprentice  degree  of 
stripping  the  candidate  to  his  shirt  and  drawers,  and 
exchanging  his  drawers  for  a  pair  furnished  him  by  the 
lodge,  which  fasten  with  strings ;  the  left  leg  of  them 
rolled  up  above  the  knee,  the  left  foot  bare,  left  breast 
bare,  and  a  slipshod  slipper  on  his  right  foot,  a  hood¬ 
wink  over  his  eyes  and  a  small  rope,  called  a  cable- 
tow,  once  around  his  neck;  in  the  second,  or  Fellow 
Craft’s  degree,  prepared  the  same,  except  the  right 
foot,  leg  and  breast  are  bare,  and  the  cable-tow  is  twice 
around  the  naked  right  arm,  above  the  elbow ;  in  the 
third,  or  Master  Mason’s  degree,  both  feet,  legs  and 
breasts  are  bare,  and  the  cable-tow  three  times  around 
his  body,  hoodwinked  as  before.  His  shirt  is  often 
taken  off  entirely  in  the  third  degree,  and  is  turned 
around  in  either  degree  when  it  does  not  open  in  front. 
In  each  degree  a  horrible  oath  is  taken  ;  the  penalty  in 
the  first  degree  being,  cutting  the  throat  and  tearing  out 
the  tongue,  in  the  second,  the  breast  torn  open  and 
heart  plucked  out,  in  the  third,  his  body  severed  in 
twain  and  his  bowels  taken  from  thence  and  burned  to 
ashes.  In  the  third  or  Master  Mason’s  degree  they 
pretend  to  murder  the  candidate,  bury  him,  and  after 
fifteen  days  raise  him  to  life  on  the  ‘five  points  of 
fellowship.’ 

In  each  of  the  Chapter  degrees,  similar  murderous 
oaths  are  taken.  In  the  first  Chapter  degree,  which 
is  the  fourth  degree  of  Masonry,  entitled  Mark  Master’s 
degree,  the  candidate  is  in  his  shirt  sleeves,  both  sleeves 
rolled  up  above  the  elbows,  a  cable-tow  four  times 
4 


50 


SECRET  SOCIETIES. 


around  his  body,  no  hoodwink  ;  in  the  Past  Master’s 
degree  there  is  no  special  preparation  ;  in  the  Most  Ex¬ 
cellent  Master’s  degree  he  has  a  cable-tow  six  times 
around  his  body,  but  no  hoodwink  ;  in  the  Royal  Arch 
degree,  three  and  only  three  are  initiated  at  once,  have 
coats  off,  are  hoodwinked  and  are  connected  with  a 
cable-tow,  wound  seven  times  around  the  body  of  each. 
The  conductor  of  the  candidates  personates  Moses,  and 
a  man,  the  Almighty  at  the  burning  bush;  the  miracles 
of  Moses  before  Pharaoh  are  mimicked  and  also  the  de¬ 
dication  of  the  second  temple  at  Jerusalem,  and  they 
pretend  to  find  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant  in  an  under¬ 
ground  arch  in  the  rubbish  of  Solomon’s  temple.  The 
lodge  room  is  termed  the  Tabernacle;  the  highest 
office,  High  Priest ;  the  second,  King  ;  the  third,  Scribe ; 
the  fourth,  Captain  of  the  Host.  The  pretended  ineff¬ 
able  name  of  God  is  given  as  the  Grand  Omnific  or 
Royal  Arch  word. 

And  this  deponent  further  saitli  that  the  signs, 
grips,  words  and  passes,  ritual  and  ceremonies,  in 
general  practice  in  Masonic  lodges  throughout  the 
United  States,  are  substantially  the  same,  the  work 
given  in  Freemasonry  Illustrated  being  exactly  as 
is  practiced  in  lodges  throughout  the  State  of  Michi¬ 
gan.” 

JACOB  O.  DOESBURG. 


ss. 


State  oe  Michigan, 

County  of  Ottawa , 

Sworn  to  and  subscribed  before  me  this  21st  day  of 
October,  A.  D.  1879. 

[Seal.]  ISAAC  FAIRBANKS, 

Notary  Public  i?i  and  for  Ottawa  Co.,  J\Tich. 


This  is  picturesque.  I  have  the  picture  before 
me,  Thomas,  but  you  can  imagine  it  without  see¬ 
ing  it. 

Thomas:  Silly  as  these  ceremonies  may  seem, 
we  must  not  forget  that  they  are  very  innocent 
amusements.  The  blacksmith,  the  carpenter, 
the  tiller  of  the  soil,  the  storekeeper,  the  clerk, 


RELIGION. 


51 


the  banker  :  all  stand  sorely  in  need  of  light  re¬ 
creations  and,  as  long  as  there  is  no  harm  in 
them,  you  have  no  reason  to  raise  objections. 

Father  :  I  should  not  have  said  a  word  against 
these  ceremonies,  had  you  not  called  my  atten¬ 
tion  to  the  deep  meaning  attached  to  them.  How¬ 
ever,  let  us  consider  the  matter  more  seriously. 
I  say  Freemasonry  is  dangerous  to  the  school, 
the  church  and  the  state. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

I 

School,  Church  and  State. 

Thomas :  Proceed,  Father,  and  show  how  this 
society  is  dangerous  to  our  school,  the  church 
and  the  state. 

Father:  The  Grand  Master  of  the  Grand  Orient 
of  Belgium,  Brother  Eugene  Goblet  de  Alviella, 
in  speaking  on  the  21st  of  November,  1886,  to 
the  boy  and  girl  students  of  the  free  University 
of  Brussels  says:  “The  true  science  cannot  be 
other  than  liberal,”  that  is  to  say  Masonic ; 
hence  the  system  of  obligatory  instruction 
adopted  by  Belgian  Masonry  whose  official 
text  is  : 

1 

“1st.  Fathers  and  widows  shall  be  obliged  to  send 
their  children  to  school. 

2nd.  Suppression  of  all  religious  instruction. 

3rd.  The  publishing  of  the  names  of  unwilling 
parents  in  a  frame  exposed  in  the  guild  halls. 

4th.  Condemnation  of  such  fathers  to  a  fine  of  one 
hundred  francs,  and,  in  case  of  insolvency,  to  hard 
labor  from  one  to  thirty  days  in  improving  streets,  or 
from  one  to  five  days  in  prison. 

5th.  As  an  extreme  measure  the  child  shall  be 
taken  from  the  parental  charge.” 

In  1854  at  the  time  of  the  feast  of  the  Grand 
Orient  of  Belgium  011  the  24th  of  June,  Belgian 
Masonry  laid  bare  the  four  points  on  which  it 
would  be  necessary  to  unite  in  the  fight  that  was 

(52) 


SCHOOL,,  CHURCH  AND  STATE). 


53 


about  to  be  undertaken  for  the  triumph  of  Ma¬ 
sonic  truth  : 

“1st.  Political  and  religious  questions  should  be 
the  matter  for  constant  action  among  the  secretly  allied 
lodges. 

2nd.  The  lodges  ought  to  be  well  organized  in  their 
mutual  efforts  at  home  and  with  foreign  secret  societies 
and  in  such  a  manner  that  they  may  obey  with  one 
common  impulse  any  line  of  action  agreed  upon. 

3rd.  These  lines  of  action  agreed  upon  will  form 
a  supreme  law,  which  is  not  permitted  to  any  one  to 
either  examine  or  discuss.  The  true  Mason  should 
incline  before  it  and  submit  blindly. 

4th.  The  questions  for  the  order  of  the  day  are: 
the  mysterious  Masonic  influence  should  have  control 
of  the  State  by  oneway  or  another,  and  the  State  should 
have  complete  control  of  all  arrangements  appertaining 
to  the  educating  of  the  people  and  public  instruction; 
private  charity  should  give  way  to  public  charity ;  it  is 
necessary  to  obliterate  from  the  Constitution  religious 
liberty,  especially  of  the  Catholic  religion,  by  restrict¬ 
ing  speech  in  the  pulpit,  and  by  forbidding  people 
gathering  together  for  a  religious  object. 

5th.  This  programme  must  be  carried  out  by  force 
if  necessary.’’ 

Thomas:  There  is  nothing  alarming  about 
speeches  made  at  feasts,  especially  when  many 
and  rich  courses  are  served  and  when  the  guests 
indulge  freely  in  delicate  wines. 

Father:  Though  this  is  true  to  a  great  extent, 
yet  it  is  a  well  established  fact  that  what  is  in  a 
sober  man  comes  out  of  him  when  he  is  hilarious 
by  imbibing  too  freely,  or  emptying  a  charged 
cannon ,  as  masons  would  express  it.  You  know, 
their  language  is  different  from  ours.  With  them 
a  glass  is  a  cannon;  to  fill  a  glass  is  to  charge  a 
cannon;  to  eat  is  to  masticate;  a  plate  is  a  tile; 


54 


secret  societies. 


a  knife  is  a  sword;  cheers  are  batteries;  banquets 
are  works  of  the  table,  and  to  cap  it  all,  an  orator 
does  not  make  a  speech,  but  a  bit  of  architecture. 

Be  this  as  it  may,  Masons  are  not  always 
engaged  at  ivorks  of  the  table,  and  then  they  are 
just  as  responsible  as  other  people.  Therefore 
let  me  quote  the  following  from  the  Church 
Progress  : 

“A  Freemason  publication  in  Europe,  the  Gazette 
du  Midi,  lately  published  a  circular  which  will  open 
the  eyes  of  a  certain  sleepy  class  of  Catholics  to  the 
aims  of  modern  Freemasonry,  and  the  importance  these 
people  attach  to  securing  full  control  of  the  education 
of  the  children  in  every  land.  This  circular  declares 
that  the  aim  of  Freemasonry  is  to  rescue  Catholics 
from  the  slavery  in  which  their  religion  keeps  them. 
To  accomplish  this,  Catholic  influence  must  be  gotten 
rid  of  in  the  schools,  thus : 

‘Teaching  and  education  in  the  schools  should  in 
an  especial  manner  pre-occupy  the  brethren.  They 
will  keep  watch  in  order  that  Catholics  may  be  ex¬ 
cluded  both  from  educational  posts  and  from  all  public 
offices  so  that  the  schools  of  the  city  as  well  as  the 
colleges,  lyceums  and  technical  institutions  may  show 
themselves  indifferent  or  hostile  to  Catholicism,  and 
all  instruction,  excluding  religious  sentiment  alto¬ 
gether,  may  be  given  on  a  purely  rationalistic  basis. 
The  superior  schools  should  be  in  the  hands  only  of 
the  brethren,  or  of  their  allies,  the  liberals  and  free¬ 
thinkers;  the  greater  the  weakness  hitherto  displayed 
in  the  struggle  in  this  direction,  the  more  obvious  is 
it  that  the  time  has  now  come  to  engage  in  it  with 
energy  and  boldness.’  ” 

Again  :  “In  order  to  show  liow  diabolical  are 
the  principles  of  Masonry  in  its  German  home, 
we  append  the  following  extracts  from  the  recent 
Masonic  manifesto  against  Christian  education. 
Here  is  what  the  German  Freemasons  demand  : 


SCHOOL,,  CHURCH  AND  STATE. 


55 


‘First. — The  extinction  of  all  ecclesiastical  power 
and  authority. 

Second — Complete  separation  of  Church  and  school. 
The  clergy  to  have  no  control  or  interference  in  the 
school ;  to  be  excluded  from  all  positions  of  teacher, 
inspector  or  local  boards ;  all  religious  orders,  male 
and  female,  to  be  removed  from  teaching,  and  any 
and  all  obstacles  to  be  placed  in  the  way  of  the  same 
being  given  charge  of  free-thinking  systems  having 

NO  AFFILIATION  WITH  THE  CLERGY. 

Third. — Abolition  of  all  religious  training.  Vulgar 
religious  teaching  and  training  produces  moral  chaos 
in  youthful  minds  and  clouds  the  intellect  of  the  chil¬ 
dren  ;  it  corrupts  and  debases  man.  The  development 
of  the  mind  and  reason  is  retarded,  and  prevents  the 
elevation  and  rise  of  the  emotional  nature.  Therefore, 
irreligious  schools  and  books,  no  Bible  and  no  teach¬ 
ers  of  religion. 

Fourth — The  de-christianizing  of  the  family. 

Fifth. — Emancipation  of  women.  The  establishment 
of  irreligious  or  secular  seminaries  for  girls  in  charge 
of  emancipated  teachers.  Training  of  the  girls  to  a 
‘healthful  humanitarianism.’  ”  . 

It  cannot  be  disputed,”  says  tlie  Ency¬ 
clopedia  Britannic  a,  “that  the  German, 
Dutch,  Belgian  and  French  magazines  of  the 
craft  exhibit  a  tone  which  is  not  favorable  to 
Christianity  regarded  as  a  special  revelation.” 

The  Political  Dictionary  of  Rottek  assures 
us  that  the  society  lent  its  aid  to  achieve  the 
evil  work  of  the  French  Revolution. 

Guerike,  another  Protestant  historian  states  : 

“Freemasonry  has  had  an  undoubted  influence  on 
positive  Christianity.  It  has  unceasingly  labored  with 
its  old  hammer  to  beat  down  the  edifice  of  Faith,  that 
thus  the  Church  of  Christ  being  reduced  to  ruins,  k 
might  erect  a  new  structure,  even  if  this  should  be  no 
other  than  a  second  Tower  of  Babel.”  (Tom:  2.  p.  553.) 


56 


SECRET  SOCIETIES. 


A  word  to  the  wise  is  sufficient.  This  Thomas, 
since  you  still  pretend  to  be  a  Catholic,  ought  to 
satisfy  you.  But,  let  us  continue  our  researches. 
Barruel  says  : 

“The  grade  of  Kadosh  is  the  soul  of  Freemasonry, 
and  the  final  object  of  its  plots  is  the  reintroduction 
of  absolute  liberty  and  equality  through  the  destruc¬ 
tion  of  all  royalty  and  the  abrogation  of  all  religious 
worship .”  (Memoires  du  Jacobinisnie,  vol.  ii,  p.  222.) 

Says  Tord  Plunket : 

“I  consider  an  association  bound  by  a  secret  oath 
to  be  extremely  dangerous  on  the  principles  of  the 
common  law,  inasmuch  as  they  subtract  the  subject 
from  the  State,  and  interpose  between  him  and  his 
allegiance  to  the  King.”  (Secret  warfare  of  Free¬ 
masonry.) 

According  to  the  Journal  de  Bruxelles, 
28th  of  November  1864,  the  Antwerp  Bodge  is 
responsible  for  the  following  :  “The  teaching  of  the 
catechism  is  the  greatest  obstacle  to  the  development 
of  a  child’s  faculties.  The  intervention  of  a  priest  in 
education  deprives  the  children  of  all  moral,  logical, 
and  rational  teaching.” 

Thomas:  Beyond  a  doubt,  these  men,  not  to 
speak  of  certain  lodges,  have  overstepped  the 
bounds;  it  must  be  remembered,  however,  that 
the  whole  order  is  not  responsible  for  the  eccen¬ 
tricities  of  a  few  members.  The  English  and 
American  Masons  have  lately  repudiated  the 
French  Masons,  because  these  latter  have  be¬ 
come  atheistic. 

Father:  True,  the  American  and  English 
Masons  have  done  so,  because  they  pretend  to  be 
respectable,  and  they,  therefore,  could  not  pretend 
to  be  so,  or  gain  many  adepts,  if  they  avowed 


SCHOOL,  CHURCH  AND  STATE. 


57 


atheism.  Yet  the  English  and  American  Masons 
never  uttered  a  single  protest  when  their  fellow- 
Masons  in  Belgium,  France,  Brazil,  Italy, 
Mexico,  and  the  South  and  Central  American 
Republics  bitterly  persecuted  the  Catholic  Church 
and  made  iniquitous  laws  suppressing  teaching 
religious  orders  and  banishing  Sisters  of  Charity, 
etc.  On  the  contrary,  they  and  their  organs 
have  constantly  praised  the  persecuting  Masonic 
governments  as  liberal  and  just,  and  branded  the 
persecuted  Catholics  as  bigoted,  superstitious, 
narrow-minded  and  behind  our  age  of  progress. 
The  iniquitous  Bennett  law  in  Wisconsin,  which 
aimed  at  the  suppression  of  Catholic  parochial 
.schools,  was,  according  to  the  admission  of 
prominent  Masons,  first  concocted  in  the  Masonic 
Lodges,  and  then,  by  means  of  Masonic  influence, 
passed  by  the  Wisconsin  legislature.  Masons  are 
essentially  the  same  the  world  over,  whatever  be 
their  outward  profession  of  being  liberal-minded 
and  friendly. 

The  ritual  for  admission  of  a  Scotch  Ancient, 
or  a  Grand  Master,  runs  as  follows  : 

“Friendship  is  the  sacred  bond  which  unites  together 
all  the  Brethren  of  our  Craft;  for  however  much  scat¬ 
tered  they  may  be  over  the  face  of  the  earth,  they  all 
compose  only  one  body,  because  one  is  their  origin  and 
one  their  aim  ;  one  the  mysteries  into  which  they  are 
initiated  :  one  the  path  by  which  they  are  led  ;  one  the 
gauge  and  measure  applied  to  each  and  all  of  them ; 
and  one  the  spirit  by  which  they  are  animated.” 
(Eckert,  Die  Frage  der  Staatl.  Anerk.,  p.  12.) 

Thomas  :  Taking  for  granted  that  masonry  is 
masonry  from  one  end  of  the  world  to  the  other, 


53 


secret  societies. 


I  apprehend  no  danger  from  this  source  in  so 
great  a  country  as  ours.  The  number  of  secret 
societies  is  legion — new  ones  are  being  formed 
almost  every  day — the  Knights  of  Pythias,  of  the 
,  Maccabees  and  a  multitude  of  others  are  of  late 
origin.  For  one  to  watch  the  manoeuvres  of  the 
other  with  a  jealous  eye  is  in  the  course  of  human 
nature.  Republicans  keep  a  watchful  eye  on 
Democrats,  and  vice  versa  ;  thus  a  healthy  equili¬ 
brium  is  maintained  and,  consequently,  the 
American  people  are  protected  against  danger¬ 
ous  invasions. 

Father:  Your  reasoning  seems  plausible;  but 
it  is  void  of  sound  principles.  When  we  are  so 
situated  that  we  must  make  a  choice  between 
two  evils,  we,  of  course,  choose  the  lesser.  We 
have  seen,  I  think,  the  evil  tendency  of  all  secret 
combines.  If  this  be  true,  it  would  be  immoral 
to  weaken  the  one  by  the  creation  of  another — it 
would  be  to  sin  with  the  intention  of  doing  good, 
or  to  steal  five  dollars  from  a  person  to  assist  a 
poor  neighbor.  Theft  is  theft  whether  the  pro¬ 
ceeds  be  used  for  holy  or  unholy  purposes. 

On  the  other  hand,  admitting  that  some  secret 
societies  are  worse  than  others,  all  are  irrespon¬ 
sible.  Let  me  quote  what  the  Church  Progress 
had  to  say  after  the  Mafia  trouble  : 

^“The  killing  of  the  Sicilian  unfortunates  by  an  armed 
mob  in  New  Orleans  points  to  a  very  forcible  moral  in 
regard  to  the  danger  of  secret  societies.  The  Mafia  is  a 
secret  society.  It  is  a  society  organized,  we  are  told, 
for  the  purpose  of  assassination.  It  is  necessarily  secret 
in  its  constitution  and  its  methods.  Naturally  enough 
secrecy  and  assassination  go  hand  in  hand.  Secrecy  is 


SCHOOL,,  CHURCH  AND  STATE. 


59 


always  dangerous.  Vice  and  crime  always  seek  secrecy. 
They  avoid  publicity,  and  in  self-protection  hide  them¬ 
selves  from  public  view.  If  then  secrecy  be  the  natural 
and  proper  ally  of  iniquity,  is  it  not  a  fair  inference  that 
societies  which  make  secrecy  an  essential  and  funda¬ 
mental  law  are  bad  in  themselves?” 

A  secret  society  is  always  irresponsible.  It  is 
not  answerable  to  the  law  of  the  consciences 
of  its  members.  But  of  what  value  or  restraint  is 
that?  Witness  the  case  of  the  Mafia.  Its  con¬ 
science  regards  murder  as  perfectly  proper,  and 
its  very  end  and  object  is  assassination.  A  secret 
society  is,  by  the  very  fact  of  its  secrecy,  a 
menace  to  society. 

Some  of  these  societies  have  been  founded  for 
the  special  purpose  of  destroying  the  Catholic 
Church,  and,  in  order  to  vindicate  their  unholy 
aims,  they  bave  recourse  to  the  most  barefaced 
columnies  and  misrepresentations  in  order  to  in¬ 
crease  the  hatred  of  bigotry  against  the  Church. 
The  Freemasons  of  Brazil  and  of  France  are 
proofs  of  this  assertion.  In  our  own  country  we 
had  lately  a  sample  thereof  in  the  A.  P.  A. 

Think  of  the  following  article,  printed  not 
many  years  ago  in  Sparta,  Ill. ;  under  the  auspices 
of  the  A.  P.  A.  ’s  : 

“encyceicae  eetter  of  his  hoeiness  EEO  XIII. 
by  divine  Providence,  Pope. 

To  the  Jesuits  (?),  Patriarchs,  Primates,  Archbishops 
and  other  Ordinaries  in  Peace  and  Communion  with  the 
Apostolic  See  of  the  entire  World  : 

For  the  Temporal  reign  of  the  Popes  in  the  land  dis¬ 
covered  by  Christopher  Columbus,  known  as  the  United 
States  of  America. 


6o 


skcret  societies. 


Moreover,  we  proclaim  the  people  of  the  United 
States  of  America  to  have  forfeited  all  right  to  rule 
said  Republic  and  also  all  dominion,  dignity  and  privi¬ 
leges  appertaining  to  it.  We  likewise  declare  that  all 
subjects  of  every  rank  and  condition  in  the  United 
States  and  every  individual  who  has  taken  an  oath  of 
loyalty  to  the  United  States  in  any  way  whatever,  may 
be  absolved  from  said  oath,  as  also  from  all  duty, 
fidelity  or  obedience  on  or  about  the  5th  of  September, 
1893,  when  the  Catholic  Congress  shall  convene  at 
Chicago,  Illinois,  as  we  shall  exonerate  them  from  all 
engagements,  and  on  or  about  the  feast  of  Ignatius 
Loyola  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1893,  it  will  be  the  duty 
of  the  faithful  to  exterminate  all  heretics  found  within 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States  of  America. 

As  the  circulation  of  this  bull,  by  sending  to  all 
places,  would  be  a  matter  of  difficulty,  it  is  commanded 
that  copies  of  it  be  taken  and  signed  by  Jesuit  notaries, 
subscribed  by  a  bishop,  and  sealed  with  the  seal  of  our 
court;  they  will  then  have  the  same  power  and  efficacy 
as  the  presents  here. 

Given  at  St.  Peter’s,  Rome,  on  the  2otli  of  December, 
1892,  the  fifteenth  year  of  our  Pontificate. 

Leo  XIII.,  Pope.” 

Th  omas :  This  is  unpardonable  ignorance, and 
stupidity  combined  with  diabolical  malice.  Thank 
God,  not  many  societies  have  gone  to  this  extent. 

Father:  This  is  true;  however,  if  you  closely 
examine  the  matter  in  question  you  will  find  that 
those  secret  institutions  are  like  the  numberless 
Protestant  .sects.  They  may  fight  among  them¬ 
selves,  but  they  stand  united  when  an  attack  is 
to  be  made  on  the  Catholic  Church  ;  in  their 
estimation  she,  and  she  alone  is  the  death  blow 
to  human  liberties  ;  yet  nowhere  is  liberty  so 
curtailed  as  in  a  lodge,  nowhere  are  men  less 
their  own  masters  and  more  enslaved  than  in  a 
Masonic  Lodge. 


SCHOOL,  CHURCH  AND  STATE.  6 1 

Thomas :  How  so  ? 

Father :  Listen  to  this  quotation  from  a  work  of 
acknowledged  authority  in  Freemasonry  : 

“The  power  of  a  master  in  his  lodge  is  absolute.  He 
is  the  supreme  arbiter  of  all  questions  of  the  order,  so 
far  as  the  meeting  is  concerned  ;  nor  can  any  appeal  be 
made  from  his  decision  to  that  of  the  lodge.  For  no 
misdemeanor,  however  great,  can  he  be  tried  by  his 
lodge.  *  *  *  This  is  the  decision  that  has  been  made  on 
the  subject  by  every  Grand  Lodge  in  the  United  States 
which  has  entertained  the  question,  and  it  may  now  be 
considered  as  a  settled  law  of  Masonry.  *  *  *  He  is  to 
be  treated  with  the  utmost  reverence  and  respect  while 
in  the  chair,  and  his  commands  must  be  implicitly  ob¬ 
eyed.  *  *  *  He  has  the  right  of  congregating  his  lodge 
whenever  he  thinks  proper;  and  of  closing  it  at  any 
time  that  in  his  judgment  may  seem  best.”  Mackey's 
Lexicon ,  Art.  Master  of  a  Lodge. 

From  this  it  follows  that  in  a  Masonic  Lodge 
the  members  must  obey  blindly  whatever  the 
master  commands,  be  it  right  or  wrong,  be  it 
lawful  or  highly  criminal,  be  it  in  accordance 
with  the  commandments  of  God  or  directly  op¬ 
posed  thereto,  be  it  an  act  of  charity  or  a  murder 
to  be  committed.  No  exception  is  made,  and  the 
Mason  is  not  free  to  refuse  implicit  obedience  to 
an  order,  were  it  given  by  the  Master  to  commit 
the  most  horrid  crimes. 

“The  Mason  is  obedient  to  the  Master;  the  Master 
and  the  lodge  to  the  Grand  Lodge.” — Mackey' s  Lexicon , 
Art.  Obedience. 

The  Most  Worshipful,  explaining  the  obliga¬ 
tions  that  devolve  upon  an  Apprentice,  says : 

“The  first  of  these  duties  is  an  absolute  silence  on  all 
that  }tou  may  hear  or  discover  among  us  .  .  .  The  third 
of  your  duties  will  be  to  conform  to  the  General  Statutes 


62 


SECRET  SOCIETIES. 


of  Freemasonry,  to  obey  the  particular  laws  of  this 
Lodge  and  those  of  the  particular  rite  practised  herein, 
and  to  execute  whatever  you  shall  be  ordered  in  the 
name  of  the  majority  of  this  assembly .” 

The  italics  are  mine,  Thomas.  Think  of  the 
word  absolute ,  consider  the  expression,  whatever 
you  shall  be  ordered ,  recall  to  your  mind  the  iron¬ 
clad  oath  and  remember  Morgan’s  assassination. 
Then  ask  yourself  the  question  :  are  these  dupes 
and  votaries  of  secrecy  freemen,  or  slaves  most 
abject? 

Thomas:  Your  conclusions,  Father,  based  on 
genuine  quotations,  are  unquestionable  ;  and  yet 
it  is  hard  to  reconcile  this  with  the  fact  that  so 
many  honorable  men  are  Freemasons. 

Father:  That  is  easily  reconciled,  for  the  ma¬ 
jority  of  Masons  are  just  as  great  dupes  as  the 
public  concerning  the  aims  and  policy  of  Free¬ 
masonry.  This  fact  was  admitted  by  the  Arch- 
Mason,  the  late  Albert  Pike.  Let  me  read  to  you 
an  extract  on  this  subject  from  “The  London 
Dairy  Telegraph”  of  April  28,  1875  : 

“Hard  as  it  is  for  men  to  believe  that  Freemasonry 
is  so  diabolical  abroad,  it  is  harder  still,  it  is  simply  im¬ 
possible,  for  them  to  think  it  other  than  a  mere 
“friendly  society”  at  home  [in  England],  when  thou¬ 
sands  well  known  for  their  principles,  for  honor  and 
honesty  of  purpose  in  their  own  circles,  have  willingly, 
nay  gladly,  placed  their  names  on  the  rolls  of  its 
various  English  Lodges.  Englishmen,  loyal  and  Prot¬ 
estant,  could  never  lend  themselves  or  their  names  to 
support  the  ends  for  which  Freemasonry  is  said  to 
exist;  yet  many  such  are  actually  Masons,  and  sworn 
members  of  that  same  society  which  is  so  numerous  and 
so  widespread  abroad.  That  society,  then,  cannot  be 
the  evil  it  is  said  to  be  ;  or  else  Freemasonry  here  is  not 
the  same  as  elsewhere.  This  latter  would  appear  to  be 


SCHOOL,  CHURCH  AND  STATE. 


the  general  opinion,  and  to  rest  upon  a  basis  of  some¬ 
thing  like  fact;  for  the  Craft  is  too  wary  to  overlook 
the  English  [and  American]  love  for  law  and  order,  too 
sharp  not  to  recognize  in  this  character  an  obstacle  to 
its  own  final  success,  and  too  cautious,  therefore,  to 
admit  any  but  those  who  have  been  well  tried  and 
sounded,  to  a  knowledge  of  its  present  actions  and 
future  aims.  Here,  as  abroad,  the  multitude  of  the 
brotherhood  have  little  more  idea  of  the  scope  of  Free¬ 
masonry  than  the  general  public  has;  they  are  kept  at 
play  in  the  antechamber,  like  children  in  the  nursery, 
whilst  real  business  is  transacted  in  the  inner  chambers 
by  the  older  members  of  the  family.  Men  are  slow  to 
allow  that  they  can  be  duped,  and  it  will  be  no  easy 
matter  to  get  those  who  have  joined  the  Craft  to  re¬ 
linquish  their  membership,  or  to  deter  those  from  join¬ 
ing  who  are  so  inclined,  on  the  strength  of  what 
certainly  is, to  say  the  least  of  it, a  well-founded  suspicion 
of  dark  dealings.  But  the  question  is  not  a  matter  of 
mere  judgment  or  prudence ;  it  is  one  of  morality  and 
conscience.” 

So  you  see,  Thomas,  a  Protestant  English 
daily  compares  the  majority  of  the  Freemasons 
to  children  in  the  nursery  amusing  themselves 
with  toys  and  pranks,  whilst  their  elders  are 
transacting  in  secret  important  business  of  which 
they  are  wholly  ignorant.  In  our  next  conversa¬ 
tion  I  will  show  you  that  Masonry  is  opposed  to 
the  Catholic  Church,  to  Christianity  itself,  and 
that  it  often  renders  the  law  powerless  by  protect¬ 
ing  and  screening  its  members  guilty  of  crimes 
in  defiance  of  all  law  and  justice. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


Christianity  and  the  State. 

Thomas:  Freemasonry  claims  to  allow  its  mem¬ 
bers  to  practise  any  religion  they  please  without 
in  the  least  interfering  with  them.  Hence  it  is 
very  liberal-minded,  say  they,  and  is  not  hostile 
to  any  religion. 

Father:  There  is  in  Freemasonry  a  vast  differ¬ 
ence  between  public  profession  and  actual 
practice.  Read  the  works  of  Albert  Pike,  the 
great  authority  on  Freemasonry  and  for  many 
years  its  chief  in  this  country  at  least,  and  you 
will  see  that  it  regards  Christianity  in  the  same 
light  as  Judaism,  Paganism,  Buddhism  and  Ma- 
homedanism,  that  is,  as  false  religious  systems, 
and  blasphemously  places  our  Divine  Ford  and 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ  on  the  same  level  as  Con¬ 
fucius,  Moses,  Socrates  and  Mahomet.  The  great 
and  learned  Bishop  Dupanloup  in  his  “Study  of 
Freemasonry’ ’  says: 

“In  spite  of  all  their  caution,  the  real  nature  of  the 
Masonic  doctrines  occasionally  becomes  revealed  totheir 
dupes ;  and  an  instance  of  this  is  to  be  found  in  the  re¬ 
signation  of  Frederic,  Prince  of  Orange,  second  son  of 
William  I.,  King  of  the  Netherlands,  who  had  been 
chosen  on  the  4th  of  June,  1816,  as  National  Grand 
Master  for  life  of  the  Grand  Lodge  of  the  Hague.  The 
next  year  he  was  elected,  in  the  Grand  Orient  of 
Brussels,  to  the  Grand  Mastership  of  the  Southern — now 

(64) 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  THE  STATE. 


65 


called  the  Belgian — Lodges.  Although  he  had  been 
made  acquainted  with  a  very  small  portion  of  the 
impious  legendary  teaching  of  the  Craft,  yet  that  little 
was  enough.  He  at  once  resigned  his  dignities,  alleg¬ 
ing  the  following  reasons,  of  which  we  here  give  a  short 
extract:  ‘I  am  a  Christian,  and  will  ever  remain  one. 
Everybody  will  understand  how  extremely  painful  it  is 
for  me  to  be  compelled  to  speak  of  the  abuse  made  in 
the  Masonic  legend  of  the  [  teaching  of  my  Divine 
Master,  the  Sou  of  the  Heavenly  Father  .  .  .  How  could 
I  write  the  history  of  Thy  life,  O  Divine  Jesus,  and  then 
call  it  the  legend  of  the  degree  of  Rosicrucian?  .  .  .  Right 
reason  and  profound  reverence  bid  my  pen  stop  here. 
Is  it  possible  to  degrade  this  hallowed  history  so  low  as 
to  turn  it  into  a  mere  legend?  ....  And  can  it  be  that 
the  Brethren  of  the  Craft  regard  the  death  of  Jesus 
Christ  as  a  mere  parable,  and  class  it  among  the  mass 
of  fictions  which  are  successively  set  before  them  ?  .  .  . 
Andwe  further  find,  to  our  indignation,  ceremonies  in 
connection  with  the  reading  of  the  legend  of  this  grade, 
which  are  in  direct  opposition  to  the  teaching  and 
character  of  the  Son  of  God  and  to  His  holy  law.’  ” 

Thomas:  That  is  something  new  to  me.  I  have 
hitherto  always  entertained  the  opinion  that 
Masonry  and  Christianity  did  not  conflict  with 
each  other. 

Father:  But  this  is  not  all.  In  some  places 
the  hatred  of  Masonry  against  Catholicism  is  so 
great,  that  the  members  empower  their  Masonic 
Brethren  to  keep  the  priest  away  from  their 
death -bed,  so  that  they  may  not  be  reconciled  to 
the  Church  and  to  God,  but  that  they  may  die 
impenitent  and  be  buried  without  religious  rites, 
but  with  the  Masonic  Ritual.  We  have  many 
examples  of  Masons  watching  night  and  day  to 
prevent  the  access  of  a  priest  to  a  dying  Mason, 
in  spite  of  his  entreaties  to  have  them  or  some 


66 


SECRET  SOCIETIES. 


one  else  call  for  a  priest.  Thus,  among  many 
other  notable  cases,  Voltaire,  d’Alembert  and 
Victor  Hugo  died  in  despair,  because  their  Ma¬ 
sonic  Brethren  who  watched  by  their  dying  bed 
day  and  night,  prevented  all  access  of  a  priest  to 
them  in  their  last  moments.  I  will  now  read  to 
you  a  fact  in  confirmation  of  my  assertion,  written 
by  H.  B.,  a  retired  French  officer,  to  the  “Par¬ 
terre  de  Notre  Dame,”  a  French  Monthly  : 

“I  happened,”  writes  II.  B.,  “to  be  in  Naut,  a  little 
town  in  Aveyron,  whilst  there  I  met  a  poor  woman 
whose  advanced  age  and  sad  appearance  struck  me.  I 
soon  learned  she  had  lost  her  only  son,  and  so,  wishing 
to  show  her  my  sympathy,  I  spoke  to  her  of  her  sorrow. 
Here  is  nearly  word  for  word  what  she  told  me:— I  had 
an  only  son  whom  I  fondly  loved,  and  he  loved  me  too. 
As  he  was  very  smart,  I  kept  him  at  school  for  a  long 
time,  and  he  used  to  carry  off  all  the  prizes.  Perhaps 
I  was  too  proud  of  him.  He  passed  a  very  brilliant 
examination  at  Marseilles,  and  every  body  predicted  a 
brilliant  future  for  him;  sol  consented  to  let  him  go 
from  me,  as  I  thought  it  might  be  for  his  advantage. 
Whet*  parting  I  said  to  him:  ‘You  love  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  my  boy  ;  hence  do  not  fail  to  remember  that  she 
never  abandons  those  who  have  recourse  to  her.  Do  you 
promise  me  this,  Charles?’  And  he  answered:  ‘Yes, 
mother,’  so  he  left  me  for  Marseilles.  At  first  he  wrote 
to  me  often,  and  his  letters  were  most  affectionate;  but 
by  degrees  they  became  more  rare  until — I  wept,  I 
prayed,  I  waited,  but,  alas!  nothing  came.  One  day, 
oh !  a  long  time  afterwards — I  received  a  telegram 
which  read:  ‘Come  quickly.  Your  son  needs  you.’  I 
started  at  once  and  was  soon  at  Marseilles.  I  went 
to  the  house  where  Charles  was  lodging.  The  servant 
who  opened  the  door  would  not  allow  me  to  go  up  to 
him.  ‘I  am  his  mother,’  I  cried,  as  I  rushed  madly 
upstairs,  and  in  spite  of  two  men  guarding  the  entrance 
I  forced  my  way  into  my  son’s  room.  Poor  Charles, 
my  dearest  child,  was  very  ill,  indeed,  but  he  clasped 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  THE  STATE.  67 

me  in  liis  arms,  as  lie  said:  ‘I  have  implored  our 
Blessed  Lady  to  send  me  a  priest,  and  it  is  she  who 
has  sent  you,  mother.’  I  calmed  him,  and  then  he 
told  me  what  had  happened  to  him.  He  had  fallen 
into  the  company  of  men  without  faith,  had  become 
a  Freemason  and,  like  his  companions,  had  sworn  to 
live  and  die  without  God.  However,  when  he  saw 
death  approaching  quickly,  he  remembered  that  he 
was  a  Catholic.  He  asked  for  a  priest,  but  his  request 
was  refused.  Two  of  his  Masonic  Brethren  were 
stationed  as  sentinels  of  the  demon  to  prevent  a  priest 
from  coming  near  my  son  ;  the  nurse  even  refused  to 
bring  him  one!  And  thus  Charles  was  dying  when  he 
recollected  my  parting  words,  and  the  “Memorare”  rose 
to  his  lips;  he  repeated  it  aloud  and  unceasingly.  A 
lady,  or  rather,  an  angel  I  should  call  her,  passing  by 
the  door  of  his  room,  heard  him  pray.  During  the 
absence  of  the  nurse  she  approached  my  child,  and 
touched  with  pity,  she  sent  me  the  telegram  which 
enabled  me  to  save  and  free  him  from  his  wicked 
friends.  ‘Imagine,  mother, ’  he  said  to  me,  ‘they  wanted 
my  body  in  order  to  inter  it  with  their  ceremonial ;  they 
pressed  me  to  sign  a  paper  which  would  have  given  it 
to  them.  But  I  did  not  do  that.  You  would  have  died 
of  sorrow,  mother,  if  I  had.’  A  priest  was  summoned, 
heard  my  sou’s  confession  and  gave  him  the  last  sacra¬ 
ments.  I  remained  two  days  with  him.  At  the  end  of 
the  second  day  he  called  me  over  to  him  and  whispered 
into  my  ear:  ‘Mother,  it  was  Our  Lady  who  sent  you 
here  !  ’  A  moment  later  my  poor  dear  bov  breathed  his 
last.” 

Thomas:  I  do  not  deny  that  in  Europe  and 
Ratin  America  Freemasonry  is  antagonistic  to 
Catholicity  ;  but  it  is  not  the  case  in  our  free 
country,  I  am  sure,  for  Freemasonry  is  not  every 
where  the  same. 

Father:  But,  Thomas,  the  very  Ritual  of  Ma¬ 
sonry,  as  well  as  Albert  Pike,  maintains  that  Free¬ 
masonry  is  the  same  everywhere ;  here  are  the 


63 


SECRET  SOCIETIES. 


very  words  they  use:  “Friendship  is  the  sacred 
bond  which  unites  together  all  the  Brethren  of 
our  Craft ;  for,  however,  much  scattered  they 
may  be  over  the  face  of  the  earth,  they  all  com¬ 
pose  only  one  body,  because  one  in  their  origin, 
one  is  their  aim  ;  one  the  mysteries  into  which 
they  are  initiated ;  one  the  path  by  which  they 
are  led ;  one  the  gauge  and  measure  applied  to 
each  and  all  of  them,  and  one  the  spirit  by 
which  they  are  animated.”  This  is  clear,  is  it 
not  ?  Tet  me  relate  to  you  what  a  fellow-priest, 
Father  G. ,  related  to  me  not  long  ago  from  his 
own  experience  :  “A  friend  of  mine,”  said  Father 
G. ,  “named  Waters,  a  Mason,  whom  I  had 
several  times  tried  to  bring  back  to  the  Church, 
died  in  July  1873  very  suddenly  from  a  sunstroke. 
The  Freemasons  had  a  grand  funeral  celebration 
over  his  remains,  his  poor  wife  consenting  to  it, 
relying  on  the  assurances  of  the  Masons  that  they 
would  furnish  her  with  ample  means  of  support. 
When  I  mentioned  this  to  Father  S. ,  a  holy  and 
zealous  priest,  who  since  died  of  yellow  fever  in 
a  Southern  city,  he  told  me  that,  Mrs.  Waters, 
being  a  Catholic,  would  soon  be  greatly  deceived 
in  her  expectations,  for  the  Masons,  after  paying 
her  the  promised  allowance  for  a  few  months, 
would  soon  find  some  plausible  pretext  for  dis¬ 
continuing  it  altogether.  I  replied  that  I  believed 
he  was  mistaken,  for  I  relied  011  their  repeated 
benevolent  protestations  and  assurances.  But 
Father  S.  told  me  to  wait  a  few  mouths,  and  that 
I  should  then  be  convinced  that  he  was  right,  for 
he  had  known  many  similar  cases.  Now  what 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  THE  STATE.  69 

did  the  ‘benevolent’  Masons  do?  How  long  did 
they  provide  for  the  poor  widow  of  their  deceased 
‘Brother?  ’  Within  four  or  five  months  poor  Mrs. 
Waters,  who  was  unable  to  earn  a  living  for  her¬ 
self,  and  whose  husband  had  for  many  years 
helped  to  fill  the  Masonic  treasury  by  his  con¬ 
tributions,  was  ‘dropped’  by  them,  and  until  her 
death,  seven  or  eight  years  afterwards,  depended 
entirely  for  support  on  the  charity  of  myself  and 
other  Catholic  friends.”  Remember,  Thomas, 
this  is  not  an  isolated  fact.  But  let  us  proceed. 
Freemasonry  is  a  conspiracy  against  the  State, 
for  there  are  most  conclusive  proofs  that  it  was 
at  the  bottom  of  the  horrid  French  Revolution 
of  1789,  of  the  revolutions  of  1848  in  Europe,  of 
%  all  the  Italian  conspiracies  and  revolutions  of  the 
19th  century,  and  of  the  revolutions  without 
number  in  Latin  America. 

Thomas:  I  cannot  understand  this,  for  often 
the  monarchs  of  European  countries  are  the 
Grand  Masters  of  Freemasonry  in  their  kingdom. 

Father  :  True,  they  have  been,  and,  for  aught 
I  know,  some  are  still  Grand  Masters  of  the 
Lodges  in  their  country  ;  but  this  is  only  to  hood¬ 
wink  and  dupe  them  and  the  public,  as  Louis 
Blanc,  one  of  the  most  active  and  leading  Free¬ 
masons  in  the  19th  century  says.  Here  are  his 
very  words,  literally  translated  :  ‘  ‘  It  seemed  agree- 
able  to  sovereigns — to  Frederic  the  Great  (of 
Prussia) — to  handle  the  trowel  and  put  on  the 
apron.  Why  not?  Since  the  existence  of  the 
higher  grades  was  carefully  hidden  from  them, 
all  they  knew  of  Freemasonry  was  that  which 


70 


SECRET  SOCIETIES. 


could  be  revealed  to  them  without  danger.  They 
had  no  reason  for  concerning  themselves  about 
it,  seeing  that  they  were  kept  in  the  lower  grades 
(though  nominally  the  highest),  in  which  they 
perceived  nothing  but  an  opportunity  for  amuse¬ 
ments,  joyous  banquets,  principles  forsaken  and 
resumed  at  the  threshold  of  the  Lodges,  formulas 
that  had  no  reference  to  ordinary  life, — in  a  word, 
a  comedy  of  equality.  But  in  these  matters 
comedy  closely  borders  on  tragedy  ;*and  princes 
and  nobles  were  induced  to  offer  the  cover  of 
their  names  and  the  blind  aid  of  their  influence 
to  secret  undertakings  directed  against  them¬ 
selves.”  Louis  Blanc  knew  well  what  he  was 
writing,  for  no  one  in  his  time  was  more  deeply 
cognizant  of  and  active  in  the  aims  and  workings 
of  Freemasonry.  This  baneful  society  is  most 
expert  at  defeating  by  unlawful  means  the  arm  of 
justice  whenever  there  is  occasion  of  shielding 
from  punishment  any  of  its  members. 

Thomas:  That  may  be  in  Europe  and  in  Latin 
America,  but  not  in  our  glorious  country. 

Father:  In  our  glorious  country,  too,  for  Free¬ 
masonry  is  the  same  everywhere,  as  I  have 
proved.  I  will  prove  it  to  you  by  unquestion¬ 
able  testimony.  Ex-President  John  Quincy  Adams 
wrote  to  Edward  Livingston  :  ‘  ‘The  Masonic  oaths 
and  obligations  cannot  possibly  be  made  to  agree 
with  the  laws  of  our  country.”  This  was  proved 
in  the  trial  of  the  Masonic  murderers  of  William 
Morgan,  as  you  can  see,  if  you  refer  to  Thurlow 
Weed’s  statement  under  oath  shortly  before  his 
death.  Thurlow  Weed,  the  prominent  Repub- 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  THE  STATE.  7 1 

lican  politician,  knew  well  what  he  was  saying, 
for  he  had  himself  witnessed  all  the  obstacles 
placed  in  the  way  of  dealing  justice  to  those 
murderers.  In  their  address  to  the  citizens  of 
New  York  William  H.  Seward  and  Millard  Fill¬ 
more  said  that  “the  Masonic  League  tramples  our 
rights  under  foot,  throws  overboard  the  adminis¬ 
tration  of  justice,  and  scoffs  at  every  administra¬ 
tion  which  it  cannot  control.”  Let  us  now  read 
some  documents  I  have  here  showing  how  Ma¬ 
sonry,  to  screen  its  members  from  condign  punish¬ 
ment,  maliciously  thwarted  the  course  of  justice, 
first  in  Berlin,  then  in  the  English  possessions, 
and,  finally,  in  our  own  country. 

A  German  officer  of  justice  thus  relates  his 
experience  of  the  machinations  of  Freemasonry 
against  the  due  course  of  justice :  I  was  ac¬ 
quainted  in  Berlin  with  an  aged  bookseller,  Jean 
Pierre  Petsch  who  had  been  initiated  in  the 
higher  degrees  of  Freemasonry  ;  he  was  Master 
of  a  Lodge  and  possessed  great  influence  in  the 
Craft.  He  had  been  arrested  for  criminal  bank¬ 
ruptcy,  forgery  and  other  great  crimes,  and  had 
been  imprisoned  about  a  year  awaiting  trial. 
His  wife  requested  me,  for  the  sake  of  past 
acquaintance,  to  pay  her  husband  a  visit  a  few 
days  before  the  opening  of  the  trial.  In  con¬ 
sequence  I  had  an  interview  with  him.  Petsch, 
having  a  high  opinion  of  my  juridical  knowl¬ 
edge,  asked  me  what  I  thought  of  his  chances 
at  the  coming  trial.  I  declared  that  he  would 
be  sentenced  to  at  least  ten  years  imprisonment. 
He  replied,  smiling:  “You  forget  that  I  am 


72 


SECRET  SOCIETIES. 


Master  of  a  Lodge  ;  I  tell  you  I  shall  not  be 
imprisoned  a  single  minute.”  His  trial  lasted 
five  days.  The  dirty  wash  therein  disclosed  was 
so  abundant  and  so  disgusting,  that  both  the 
judges  and  the  audience  were  convinced  that 
Petsch  would  receive  the  highest  punishment 
allowed  by  the  law.  On  the  evening  of  the  fifth 
day  after  eloquent  pleas  by  the  lawyers  on  both 
sides  and  the  charge  of  the  chief  judge,  the  jury 
retired  to  find  a  verdict.  They  returned  in  a 
few  minutes  with  the  following  verdict :  ‘Before 
God  and  on  our  consciences  we  declare  that  the 
defendant  is  not  guilty  of  any  of  the  charges 
brought  against  him.  ’  This  unexplainable  ver¬ 
dict,  so  directly  opposed  to  all  the  evidence 
elicited  in  the  trial,  excited  the  indignation  of 
the  audience  to  such  a  pitch,  that  the  presid¬ 
ing  judge  ordered  the  court-room  to  be  cleared. 
Before  this  had  been  done,  the  foreman  of  the 
jury,  a  well  known  bookseller,  deputy  of  the 
council,  and  a  great  champion  of  liberty  and 
science,  left  the  bench  of  the  jury,  and  came  to 
embrace  and  kiss  the  defendant  Petsch  ;  this  was 
his  reply  to  the  hisses  of  the  audience.  Neither 
the  judges  nor  the  public  had,  until  then,  had  the 
least  suspicion  that  the  foreman  of  the  jury  was 
a  Brother-Mason  of  the  criminal  on  trial.  At  this 
most  unexpected  result,  I  was  struck  by  what 
Petsch  had  told  me  before  the  trial,  saying  that 
he  would  not  receive  the  slightest  punishment. 
I  was  anxious  to  find  out  how  he  had  felt  so  sure 
of  his  acquittal,  and,  therefore,  went  that  very 
evening  to  inquire.  He  gratified  my  curiosity  as 


73 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  THE  STATE. 

• 

follows  :  ‘My  hopes  of  acquittal  were  grounded  on 
my  Brother- Masons  ;  I  knew  they  would  not  for¬ 
sake  me.  An  official  of  the  court,  who  is  a  Free¬ 
mason,  acted  as  mediator  between  me  and  my 
fellow- Masons,  for,  by  virtue  of  his  office,  he  had  . 
access  to  the  jury  lists  and  the  jury  room.  He 
told  me  that  during  the  empaneling  of  the  jury  a 
“Brother” -Mason,  seated  in  a  certain  part  of  the 
court-room,  would  let  me  know  by  certain  signs 
which  of  the  persons  drawn  were  Freemasons,  so 
that  I  could  accept  them,  and  challenge  those 
who  were  not  Masons ;  and,  as  my  lawyer  sat  in 
front  of  me,  I  could  direct  him  in  the  acceptance 
or  rejection  of  the  persons  drawn.  In  this  manner 
we  secured  eight  Masons  on  the  jury  and  that 
was  all  I  needed  for  my  acquittal.  We  Masons 
have  sworn  to  sacrifice  our  own  life  in  order  to 
save  a  fellow-Mason  who  gives  the  sign  of  distress 
and  cries  out:  ‘Help,  ye  sons  of  the  widow  !’  As 
I  could  not  say  this  in  open  court,  I  made  the 
corresponding  sign.  Those  eight  Freemasons — 
two-tliirds  of  the  jury,  sufficed  to  acquit  against 
all  evidence  and  against  their  oath  as  jurors, 
their  Brother-Mason.  I  have  since  then  witnessed 
three  similar  cases  in  Berlin,  and  two  of  the 
judges,  whom  I  had  made  cognizant  of  the  case 
of  Petscli,  said  to  me  after  those  trials — parodies 
of  justice — full  of  indignation  :  ‘To-day  the  Ma¬ 
sons  have  again  been  at  work  to  defeat  the  ends 
of  justice  !’  ” 

In  Canon  Brownlow’s  Life  of  Sir  James  Mar¬ 
shall,  Chief  Magistrate  on  the  Gold  Coast  of 
Africa,  is  found  on  pages  47  and  48  the  following 
extract  from  one  of  his  letters : 


74 


SECRET  SOCIETIES. 


“Not  long  before  I  arrived,  a  Portuguese  merchant 
died  without  the  sacraments,  a  Freemason,  as  well  as  a 
notorious  evil  liver.  He  was  rich  and  popular,  espec¬ 
ially  among  the  Freemasons,  and  he  was  a  Catholic, 
and  had  been  tolerably  generous  in  gifts  to  the  Church 
.  .  .  He  died  a  Freemason,  unreconciled  to  the  Church, 
and  whilst  he  left  a  poor  man’s  soul  to  be  judged  by 
God,  Pere  Cloud  steadily  and  firmly  refused  Christian 

burial  to  his  body . This  refusal  to  bury  a  man  of 

position  and  importance  roused  the  fury  and  indignation 
of  the  Freemasons  and  their  friends  .  .  .  They  had  not 
yet  adopted  the  open  denial  of  any  God,  which  is  the 
boast  of  many  Freemason  Lodges,  in  addition  to  the 
entire  ignoring  of  Christianity  and  the  Christian’s  God 
which  prevails  in  all,  and  therefore  they  could  not  bury 
him  with  atheistic  or  pagan  rites  of  their  own,  as  is 
now  done  in  France  by  the  Masons.  But  P£re  Cloud 
remained  firm,  and  showed  that,  however  humble  and 
poor  the  Church  was  in  its  earthly  circumstances,  its 
spiritual  authority  and  power  was  from  God.  The  Prot¬ 
estant  ministers,  at  the  same  time,  proved  how  very 
opposite  their  position  was,  for  they  were  only  too 
pleased  to  receive  the  weed  thrown  out  of  the  Pope’s 
garden,  and  buried  the  excommunicate  outcast  as  one 
who  ought  to  have  belonged  to  them.  As  the  deceased 
had  no  relative  ill  Lagos,  his  property  was  placed  by  my 
predecessor  in  the  hands  of  another  Portuguese,  a  man 
of  the  same  stamp,  and  a  strong  Freemason.  Of  course, 
his  duty  was  to  administer  the  estate  for  the  heirs  at 
law.  After  some  time  the  heirs  applied  to  the  Court  for 
information  about  the  property,  as  they  had  received 
nothing,  nor  any  accounts.  It  therefore  became  my 
duty  to  examine  into  the  affair,  which  ended  in  my 
making  out  a  warrant  for  the  apprehension  of  this 
precious  friend  of  the  deceased,  on  the  charge  of  his 
having  appropriated  every  thing  he  could  lay  hold  of 
to  his  own  use.  But  his  Brother-Masons  got  wind  of  it, 
and  though  I  did  all  I  could  to  have  him  arrested,  they 
managed  to  smuggle  him  out  of  the  jurisdiction  in  a 
canoe,  and  had  no  hesitation  in  acknowledging  they 
had  done  so.  So  I  learned  that  the  Fraternity  of  Free- 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  THE  STATE. 


75 


masonry  included  fraternity  in  crime,  and  that  even 
when  a  Mason  robbed  the  property  of  a  Brother-Mason, 
he  was  protected  by  his  Brethren  from  the  law.” 

Now  let  us  see  the  Masonic  doings  in  the 
United  States.  The  following  is  an  extract  from 
the  “Partisan  Life  with  Colonel  John  S.  Mosby” 
by  Major  John  Scott  of  Fauquier,  late  C.  S.  A. 
(New  York,  Harper  Brothers,  1867),  Chapter  45, 
from  p.  356  to  360  : 

‘‘Early  in  November  (1864)  Captain  A.  E.  Richards, 
with  ten  men,  was  sent  to  the  rear  of  Sheridan’s  army, 
then  lying  between  Middletown  and  Strasburg.  From 
a  position  near  the  turnpike,  in  the  course  of  the  day 
he  captured  fifteen  prisoners,  among  whom  were 
Captain  Brewster,  of  Custer’s  staff,  and  his  brother,  a 
lawyer,  bound  on  a  canvassing  expedition  to  the  army 
in  the  interest  of  General  McClellan.  There  were  also 
among  the  prisoners  a  news-boy  and  a  drummer  boy. 
The  newsboy  had  often  before  been  captured  by  Rich¬ 
ards,  but  had  always  been  released,  and  on  this  occasion 
received  the  same  clemency.  The  drummer-boy  claimed 
his  liberty  likewise,  and  pleaded  hard  for  it ;  but  Rich¬ 
ards  said:  ‘No,  the  drum  excites  men  to  battle,  but  the 
newspaper  is  often  the  source  of  demoralization  and 
defeat.*  As  the  prisoners,  in  charge  of  Dr.  Sowers, 
were  passing  through  Ashby’s  Gap,  they  were  met  by 
Mosby,  who,  when  informed  that  they  belonged  to  Gen. 
Custer’s  division,  determined  to  retaliate  upon  them  for 
the  death  of  the  Rangers  who  had  been  executed  at 
Front  Royal.  He  therefore  ordered  them  to  be  kept 

under  close  guard  until  his  return  to  Fauquier . 

Meanwhile  another  party  of  Custer’s  men  had  been 

captured  by  Mountjoy . On  the  day  appointed  for 

the  execution,  the  battalion  assembled  at  Rectortown. 
About  11  o’clock  a.  m.  Mosby  arrived,  prepared  to  enter 
upon  his  painful  task.  There  were  twenty-seven  men 
left  after  Brewster,  the  lawyer,  was  excluded  from  the 
lottery,  and  on  the  list  were  the  names  of  two  officers — 
Captain  Brewster  and  a  lieutenant  of  artillery.  An 


76 


SECRET  SOCIETIES. 


officer  was  detailed  to  superintend  the  sad  affair,  and 
Mosby  withdrew  from  the  painful  scene,  saying:  ‘This 
duty  must  be  performed  for  the  protection  of  my  men 
from  the  ruthless  Custer  and  Powell.’  The  prisoners 
were  drawn  up  in  single  rank,  and  for  each  a  bit  of 
paper  was  prepared,  but  seven  only  of  them  were  num¬ 
bered.  They  were  then  all  put  into  a  hat,  and  each 
prisoner  was  required  to  draw  forth  one  of  them.  Those 
who  drew  blanks  were  to  be  sent  to  Richmond  as 
prisoners  of  war,  but  those  who  drew  numbers  were  to 

be  hung . The  condemned  men  were  at  once  set 

apart  and  closely  guarded.  The  two  officers  had  drawn 
blanks,  but  not  so  the  drummer-boy.  His  appeals  to 
Captain  Richards  were  now  louder  and  more  eloquent 
than  ever,  who,  touched  with  compassion,  interceded 
with  Mosby  for  his  release.  The  application  was 
granted,  for  the  boy,  in  truth,  ought  never  to  have  been 
subjected  to  the  lottery.  But  another  had  to  be  sub¬ 
stituted  in  his  place,  for  Mosby  remembered  the  black¬ 
ened  corpses  of  Overby  and  Carter  as  they  hung  in  the 
parching  wind.  The  prisoners,  in  cruel  suspense,  again 
stood  in  line,  but  now  only  one  death-warrant  was  in 
the  hat.  Captain  Brewster  again  escaped,  but  the 
artillery  officer  was  not  so  fortunate.  A  detail  was 
made  to  execute  the  sentence  of  retaliation,  for  the  con¬ 
demned  soldiers  were  to  be  carried  to  the  Valley,  and 
were  to  be  executed  in  the  neighborhood  of  Winchester. 
As  the  party  were  passing  through  Ashby’s  Gap,  they 
were  met  by  Captain  Mountjoy,  who  was  returning  from 
the  Valley,  with  an  additional  supply  of  prisoners 
taken  from  General  Custer’s  command.  Among  the 
men  condemned  to  death  he  recognized  the  artillery 
officer  and  one  of  his  companions  to  be  Freemasons, 
and  on  his  own  responsibility  substituted  in  their  places 

two  of  his  own  prisoners . When  the  substitution 

made  by  Captain  Mountjoy  was  reported  to  Mosby,  he 
was  much  offended,  and  with  severity  told  him  he  must 
remember  in  future  that  his  command  was  not  a 
Masonic  Lodge.” 

John  C.  Spencer,  one  of  New  York’s  ablest 
lawyers,  was  one  of  the  most  active  prosecutors 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  THE  STATE. 


77 


of  the  Masonic  murderers  of  William  Morgan. 
A  letter  written  by  him  in  1830,  to  be  found  page 
35  in  “Fr.  Semple,  Narratives  and  Arguments,” 
is  substantially  as  follows  : 

“During  a  laborious  investigation  lasting  more  than 
a  whole  year,  I  became  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the 
workings  of  this  association  (Freemasonry)  among  its 
own  members.  Masonry  has  changed  entirely  the 
character  of  some  of  our  best  citizens.  Men  who  formerly 
would  have  been  foremost  in  bringing  criminals  to 
trial  and  punishment,  have  actually  become  defenders 
of  murderers.  Far  from  aiding  in  ferreting  these  out, 
our  best  citizens,  and  even  our  magistrates  and  sheriffs, 
have  placed  every  available  obstacle  in  the  way ;  they 
concealed  or  removed  witnesses;  the  criminal  was 
helped  to  escape,  or,  if  brought  to  trial,  was  assisted  by 
them  in  every  way  possible.  Men  when  called  upon  to 
testify,  refused  to  do  so,  even  when  their  testimony 
would  not  incriminate  them ;  they  preferred  being 
punished  for  contempt,  provided  only  they  shielded 
their  (Masonic;  Brethren;  others  evidently  perjured 
themselves  in  their  testimony  ;  when  sitting  among  the 
jury  they  either  secured  the  acquittal  of  their  Brother- 
Masons,  or  obliged  the  court  to  dismiss  them.  The 
power  of  Masonry  is  as  great  as  it  desires  and  needs.  It 
even  reached  our  chief  executive  (DeWitt  Clinton,  the 
governor  of  New  York),  turning  him  into  an  indifferent 
looker-on.  He  has  revealed  (to  the  Masons)  my  official 
and  confidential  communications,  so  that  all  my  efforts 
(in  behalf  of  justice)  proved  fruitless.  In  a  word,  I  con¬ 
sider  Freemasonry  as  the  direct  foe  of  the  government 
it  cannot  control.  Freemasonry  leads  to  contempt  of 
all  the  duties  of  citizenship,  as  soon  and  as  often  as 
these  latter  conflict  with  its  interest.  It  is  essentially 
immoral,  since  it  turns  those  who  have  assumed  its  ob¬ 
ligations,  into  bad  men  and  bad  citizens;  it  creates  un¬ 
just  distinctions  in  society;  it  gives  a  certain  class  of 
men,  that  is,  its  own  members  unjust  privileges  and 
advantages  over  others  wdio  are  at  least  as  good  and  as 
worthy  as  they;  through  hidden  and,  I  fear,  crooked 


78 


SECRET  SOCIETIES. 


means  it  exercises  a  very  powerful  influence  in  our  elec¬ 
tions.  Hence  Freemasonry,  taken  all  in  all,  is  far  more 
dangerous  to  our  country  and  government  than  any,  and 
even  the  largest,  standing  army,  and  this  principally 
because  its  movements  are  secret,  and  its  executive 
enforces  obedience  more  strictly  than  is  done  in  any 
army.  Freemasonry  has  a  contempt  for  law  and  govern¬ 
ment,  and  celebrates  its  victories  in  the  impunity  of  its 
members  for  crimes  committed  by  them  under  the  pro¬ 
tection  of  the  Lodge.  These  latest  investigations  (con¬ 
cerning  the  Masonic  murder  of  Morgan)  have  con¬ 
vinced  every  impartial  man  that  government  and  justice 
are  powerless  when  they  are  opposed  to  this  Hydra.” 

In  “Tract  No.  12,  Anti-Mason’s  Scrap-book,’’ 
Judge  Dan.  H.  Whitney  enlightens  ns  as  to  the 
doings  of  the  Dodges.  Judge  Whitney  was 
“Worshipful  Master”  of  Dodge  No.  60*  of  Bel- 
videre,  Illinois.  As  a  man  of  honor  and  judge, 
he  .strove,  in  spite  of  his  Masonic  oath,  to  fulfil 
conscientiously  the  duties  of  his  office.  In  1852 
a  Mason,  named  Sam  D.  Keith,  robbed  Ellen 
Slade,  an  innocent  and  defenceless  orphan  girl, 
first  of  her  honor,  and  then  with  the  help  of  an 
unprincipled.  t physician,  Brother- Mason  Wood¬ 
ward,  of  her  life  also.  The  county  sheriff,  a 
Brother-Mason,  had  permitted  Keith  to  escape. 
But  Judge  Whitney  had  him  pursued  and  arrested. 
His  efforts  to  mete  out  justice,  however,  were  un¬ 
availing,  for  the  sheriff,  Brother-Mason  Joel 
Florida,  succeeded  in  smuggling  three  Masons 
among  the  jurors,  and,  naturally,  the  verdict  was 
— “not  guilty.  ’’  Judge  Whitney  had  the  courage 
publicly  to  express  his  indignation  at  this  flagrant 
injustice.  I11  a  pamphlet  he  published  in  1852 
at  Kenosha,  Wis. ,  he  relates  that  his  death  had 
been  decreed  by  the  Masonic  Dodge  ;  but  the 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  THE  STATE. 


79 


“Brother-Masons”  were  deterred  by  the  fear  of 
the  people  from  carrying  out  this  “brotherly 
decree.  ’  ’  He  was  then  accused  before  the  Grand 
Lodge  of  Illinois,  and  avoided  expulsion  by  freely 
resigning  his  membership,  giving  twenty  reasons 
for  this  step,  among  which  are  the  following  : — 
Because  a  Mason  has  no  right  to  reveal,  even  as 
a  sworn  witness  in  court,  the  crime  of  a  Brother- 
Mason  ;  and  because  the  greater  the  crime,  the 
greater  also  the  obligation  on  his  part  not  to 
reveal  'it  ;  because  the  Masonic  Lodge  claims  the 
power  of  life  and  death  over  its  members.  The 
Freemasons  did  not  make  the  least  attempt  to 
deny  or  refute  these  charges. — J.  Blanchard  in  a 
public  speech  at  Monmouth,  Ill. ,  said  that  in  San 
Francisco  two  Brother-Masons  refused  to  testify 
in  court  against  another  Mason,  and  that  one  of 
them  openly  said  to  the  judge  :  “You  know  very 
well  how  it  is  yourself  !”  During  the  trial  of  the 
Masons  for  the  murder  of  William  Morgan  Judge 
W.  L.  Marco  exclaimed  in  open  court:  “What 
can  the  courts  of  justice  do,  when  men  (the 
Freemasons)  defy  heaven  and  earth  !”  Hence  I 
have  often  heard  people  of  mature  judgment  and 
well  acquainted  with  criminal  trials,  say  when 
they  heard  of  the  trial  of  some  great  criminal : 
“Well,  if  he  is  a  Freemason,  he  will  not  be  con¬ 
demned,  for  either  the  judge  is  a  Freemason,  or 
his  lawyers  will  succeed,  by  some  means  or  other 
to  place  one  or  more  Freemasons  on  the  jury.” 

Thomas  :  That  is  an  exaggeration,  for  other 
criminals  not  Freemasons  sometimes  escape  con¬ 
viction  in  spite  of  the  evidence  proving  their 


8o 


SECRET  SOCIETIES. 


crime.  Moreover,  Freemasons  do  not  always 
escape  paying  the  penalty  of  their  crimes.  We 
have  a  clear  proof  of  this  in  the  conviction  and 
execution  of  Guiteau,  the  murderer  of  President 
Garfield,  although  he  appealed  repeatedly  to 
his  Brethren  of  the  Craft. 

Father  :  The  case  of  Guiteau,  who  died  cursing 
his  Brother-Masons  for  not  coming  to  his  rescue, 
is  an  exception.  He  was  so  unpopular  a  criminal, 
just  like  the  murderer  of  President  McKinley, 
that  had  the  Masons  exerted  themselves  to  free 
him  from  his  well-deserved  fate,  they  would  have 
drawn  on  themselves  and  their  Craft  the  indig¬ 
nation  and  odium  of  the  whole  American  people  ; 
and  this  they  could  not  afford  to  incur  without 
danger  of  utter  ruin.  We  have  no  idea  of  the 
extent  of  the  po\yer  and  influence  of  Masonry  in 
this  country  to  work  evil  and  hamper  the  adminis¬ 
tration  of  justice.  Already  in  1825,  when  Ma¬ 
sonry  had  less  than  60,000  members  in  the  United 
States — and  now  there  are  more  than  half  a 
million  of  them — Brother  Mason  Brainard  made 
the  following  boast  in  a  public  .speech  at  New 
London,  Conn.:  “Freemasonry  embraces  men  of 
all  conditions,  men  of  wealth  and  talent.  Power¬ 
ful  by  the  effective  means  known  among  them, 
by  which  they  know  one  another,  conceal  their 
secrets  and  assist  each  other,  Masons  are  to  be 
found  in  the  legislatures,  on  the  judges’  bench, 
in  every  kind  of  business,  in  every  public  under¬ 
taking,  even  in  the  family  circle,  in  peace  and  in 
war,  among  friends  and  foes.  Freemasonry  is 
now-a-days  so  strong  as  not  to  fear  the  civil 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  THE  STATE.  8  I 

power  or  private  opposition  ;  for  it  possesses  the 
means  of  knowing  at  once  all  the  measures  taken 
against  it,  of  counteracting  and  overcoming  them, 
and  even  of  punishing  its  opponents.”  What  do 
you  say  to  that,  Thomas? 

Thomas  :  Well,  I  must  acknowledge  that  my 
ideas  about  Freemasonry , are  entirely  changed, 
and  I  no  longer  regard  it  as  a  benevolent  or  harm¬ 
less  .society. 


I 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


Excommunicated  Societies. — Forbidden  Societies. 

Thomas:  I  would  like  to  know  whether  all 
secret  societies  are  equally  forbidden  and  excom¬ 
municated. 

Father:  Some  secret  societies  are  merely  for¬ 
bidden  without  the  penalty  of  excommunication, 
whilst  others  are  forbidden  under  the  penalty  of 
excommunication,  so  that  those  who  join  them 
not  only  are  unworthy  of  absolution,  but  remain 
excommunicated  or  cut  off  from  the  Church  until 
they  ’  withdraw  from  them.  Among  the  justly 
condemned  societies  are  the  Freemasons,  the  Odd 
Fellows,  the  Sons  of  Temperance  and  the  Knights 
of  Pythias.  As  the  Freemasons  are  the  worst  I 
will  give  some  extracts  from  Papal  decrees 
against  them. 

Pope  Clement  XII.  in  his  Apostolic  Constitu¬ 
tion  “In  eminenti”  of  April  18th,  1738,  says  of 
them:  “In  the  associations  of  Freemasons  men 
of  every  religion  and  sect,  without  respect  for 
natural  propriety,  bind  themselves  in  a  close  and 
impenetrable  compact,  according  to  arbitrary 
laws  and  statutes,  by  solemn  oath,  under  the  most 
terrible  penalties,  to  keep  inviolably  concealed 
the  secret  doings  of  their  society.  But  crime 
naturally  reveals  and  betrays  itself  by  it.  own 
cries.  Their  very  hatred  of  light  is  a  proof  of 

(82) 


EXCOMMUNICATED  AND  FORBIDDEN  SOCIETIES.  83 

their  depravity  and  perversity.  Wherefore,  bear¬ 
ing  in  mind  the  dangers  usually  resulting  from 
similar  conventicles,  not  only  to  the  peace  of  the 
state,  but  also  to  the  salvation  of  souls,  We  have, 
for  these  causes  and  others  known  to  Ourselves, 
resolved  to  condemn  and  forbid  said  societies  of 
Freemasons,  under  whatever  name  or  title,  and 
We  do  condemn  and  forbid  them  by  this  our 
present  Constitution,  which  is  forever  to  remain 
in  force.  ” 

His  successor,  Pope  Benedict  XIV.,  a  man  of 
great  learning  and  esteemed  by  even  Protestants 
and  unbelievers  as  most  charitable  and  kind- 
hearted,  renewed  the  condemnation  of  Free¬ 
masonry  in  his  Apostolic  Constitution  “Providas’  ’ 
of  March  18th,  1751.  Pius  VII.  did  likewise  on 
Sept.  13th,  1821.  Pope  Feo  XII.  in  his  Apostolic 
Constitution  “Quograviora’  ’  of  March  13th,  1826, 
renews  all  the  preceding  condemnations  of  Pree- 
masonry,  and  declares  the  Masonic  oath  of  secrecy 
to  be  wicked,  null  and  void.  Pope  Pius  VIII., 
in  his  Encyclical  “Traditi”  of  May  21st,  1829, 
calls  attention  to  the  havoc  caused  by  secret 
societies  in  the  state  and  against  religion,  and 
enjoins  on  all  the  bishops  to  strive  to  counteract 
and  prevent  their  evil  doings.  Pope  Gregory 
XVI.,  so  detested  by  Masons  and  infidels,  in  his 
remarkable  and  vigorous  Encyclical  “Mirari”  of 
August  15th,  1832,  ascribes  most  justly  to  Free¬ 
masonry  the  spread  of  the  novel  and  monstrous 
opinions  undermining  religion,  morality  and 
society  itself. 

Pope  Pius  IX.  issued  the  strong  Encyclical 


84 


secret  societies. 


against  Freemasonry  “Qui  pluribus”  of  Novem¬ 
ber  9th,  1846.  In  his  solemn  “Allocution”  “Mul- 
tiplices  inter”  of  September  25th,  1865,  he  says  : 
“The  Masonic  sect  has  spread  so  greatly,  that  it 
now  shows  itself  everywhere  with  impunity  and 
raises  its  head  more  boldly  than  ever.  We  have 
deemed  it  necessary  to  speak  again  on  this  sub¬ 
ject,  because  some  people,  through  ignorance, 
falsely  imagine  that  said  society  is  harmless,  and 
that  the  members  seek  only  to  help  their  fellow- 
men  in  distress  and  want,  and  that  the  Church 
has  nothing  to  fear  from  them.  But  who  does 
not  see  that  this  view  is  wholly  foreign  to  truth? 
What  can  be  the  object  of  such  an  association  of 
men  of  every  religion  and  shade  of  belief?  What 
is  the  purpose  of  those  secret  meetings  and  that 
oath  of  secrecy  so  strictly  required  of  every  initiate, 
by  which  he  binds  himself  never  to  reveal  the  do¬ 
ings  of  the  Craft?  And  wherefore  those  fearful 
penalties,  to  which  the  initiates  devote  them¬ 
selves  (or  render  themselves  liable),  in  case  they 
are  ever  untrue  to  their  oath?  Most  assuredly,  a 
society  that  thus  shuns  the  light,  cannot  but  be 
both  impious  and  criminal,  for,  according  to  the 
saying  of  the  apostle,  ‘lie  that  doth  evil,  hateth 
the  light.  ’  ” 

Thomas  :  Speaking  of  Pius  IX.,  it  is  said  that 
he  was  a  Freemason. 

Father  :  How  can  you  reiterate  an  objection 
exploded  so  often?  It  is  a  waste  of  time  to  talk 
about  it.  Yet  let  me  quote  : 

“Pius  IX.,  as  a  vigilant  pilot  over  the  vessel 
of  the  Church,  in  spite  of  the  tempest  which 


EXCOMMUNICATED  AND  FORBIDDEN  SOCIETIES.  85 

assails  him  in  his  own  person,  has  spoken  in  his 
turn  ;  and  recalling,  in  his  Allocution  of  the  25th 
of  September,  1865,  the  warnings  given  to  Free¬ 
masonry  by  his  predecessors,  he  continues  thus  : 
‘Unfortunately  these  warnings  have  not  had  the 
hoped-for  result ;  and  we  look  upon  it,  therefore, 
as  a  duty  to  condemn  this  Society  anew  ;  seeing 
that,  from  ignorance  perhaps,  the  idea  might  arise 
that  it  is  inoffensive  ;  that  it  has  no  other  object 
but  benevolence,  and  could  not ;  therefore,  be  a 
source  of  peril  to  the  Church  of  God.  ’ 

It  is,  in  fact,  in  that  illusion  that  the  snare  and 
bait  of  Freemasonry  consists.  The  Holy  Father, 
after  having  pointed  this  out,  adds  : 

‘We  condemn  this  Masonic  Society,  and  all 
otlier  societies  of  the  same  nature,  and  which, 
though  differing  in  form,  tend  to  the  same  ob¬ 
ject,  under  the  same  pains  and  penalties  as  those 
specified  in  the  constitutions  of  our  predecessors ; 
and  this  concerns  all  Christians  of  every  condi¬ 
tion,  rank,  or  dignity  all  over  the  world.’  ” 

In  his  Constitution  Apostolicae  Sedis,  in  the 
month  of  October,  1869,  Pius  IX.  condemns  by 
name  the  Freemasons  and  Carbonari.  What 
duplicity,  had  he  been  a  member  of  the  masonic 
order  ! 

Thomas  :  They  say,  some  priests  are  members 
in  good  standing. 

Father:  They  say  so ;  but  invariably  they  fail  in 
giving  us  the  address  of  any  particular  individual. 
If  they  are  members  in  good  standing,  why  not 
mention  their  names  ?  It  is  a  masonic  blind, 
Thomas.  Let  us  now  see  the  teachings  of  Pope 


86 


SECRET  SOCIETIES. 


Eeo  XIII.  concerning  Freemasonry  and  its 
kindred  societies. 

In  his  grand  Encyclical  “Humanum  Genus” 
of  April  20th,  1884,  he  condemns  Freemasonry 
and  other  kindred  societies.  After  mentioning 
and  commending  the  attitude  and  course  of  his 
predecessors  concerning  this  secret  society,  he 
says  :  “There  are  several  organized  bodies,  which, 
although  differing  in  name,  in  ceremonial,  in  form 
and  origin,  are,  nevertheless,  so  bound  together 
by  community  of  purpose  and  by  the  similarity 
of  their  main  opinions,  as  to  make  actually  but 
one  thing  with  the  sect  of  Freemasons,  which  is 
a  kind  of  centre  whence  they  all  proceed  and 
whither  they  all  return.”  Then  after  speaking 
of  their  oath  of  secrecy  and  blind  obedience,  he 
adds:  “their  ultimate  purpose  is  the  utter  over¬ 
throw  of  the  whole  religious  and  political  order 
of  the  world  which  the  Christian  teaching  has 
produced,  and  the  substitution  of  a  new  state  of 
things  in  accordance  with  their  views,”  and  these 
views,  he  says,  ignore  Christianity  and  all  re¬ 
vealed  religion.  What  he  says  about  Free¬ 
masonry  applies  to  the  Craft,  but  not  so  much  to 
its  individual  members.  “Among  these,”  he 
says,  “there  may  be  not  a  few,  who,  although 
not  free  from  the  guilt  of  having  entangled  them¬ 
selves  in  such  associations,  yet  are  neither  them¬ 
selves  partners  in  their  criminal  acts,  nor  aware 
of  the  ultimate  object  which  they  are  striving 
to  attain.”  Then  he  shows  how  the  Craft  has 
warred  against  the  Church,  encroaching  on  her 
rights,  and  wherever  it  is  in  power,  enacting 


EXCOMMUNICATED  AND  FORBIDDEN  SOCIETIES.  87 

laws  tending  to  destroy  her  influence  and  robb¬ 
ing  her  of  her  freedom,  and  seeking  to  bring  up 
the  children  in  ignorance  of  religion  and  even 
in  downright  infidelity,  introducing  the  curse  of 
divorce  and  thus  striving  to  sunder  the  bonds 
of  the  family,  which  is  the  basis  of  society,  and 
thus  undermining  the  stability  and  permanence  of 
society.  He  then  continues  :  “Therefore,  what¬ 
soever  the  Roman  Pontiffs  Our  Predecessors 
have  decreed  in  order  to  oppose  the  undertak¬ 
ings  and  endeavors  of  the  Masonic  sect,  and 
whatsoever  they  have  enacted  to  deter  or  with¬ 
draw  men  from  similar  societies,  We  ratify  and 
confirm  it  by  Our  Apostolic  Authority :  and, 
trusting  greatly  to  the  good  will  of  Christians, 
We  pi  ay  and  beseech  each  one,  for  the  sake  of 
his  eternal  salvation,  to  be  most  conscientiously 
careful  not  in  the  least  to  depart  from  what  the 
Apostolic  See  has  commanded  in  this  matter.” 
He  directs  the  Bishops  and  the  clergy  “to  tear 
away  the  mask  from  Freemasonry,  and  to  let  it 
be  seen  as  it  really  is  ...  .  Let  no  man  think 
that  he  may  for  any  reason  whatsoever  join  the 
Masonic  sect,  if  he  values  his  Catholic  name 
and  his  eternal  salvation  as  he  ought  to  value 
them.  Let  no  one  be  deceived  by  a  pretence 
of  honesty.  It  may  seem  to  some  that  Free¬ 
masons  demand  nothing  that  is  openly  contrary 
to  religion  and  morality  ;  but  as  the  whole 
principle  and  object  of  the  sect  lie  in  what  is 
vicious  and  criminal,  to  join  with  these  men  or 
in  any  way  to  help  them  cannot  be  lawful.” 

Thomas;  I  now  see  and  acknowledge  the  wis- 


88 


secret  societies. 


dom  of  the  Church  in  condemning  Freemasonry 
and  in  forbidding  her  children  to  join  such  a 
dangerous  society.  Are  there  any  other  secret 
societies  condemned  by  name? 

Father  :  In  1894  the  Sacred  Congregation  in 
Rome,  with  the  sanction  of  Pope  L,eo  XIII.  con¬ 
demned  by  name  the  Odd  Fellows,  the  Good 
Templars,  the  Knights  of  Pythias  and  the  Sons 
of  Temperance,  and  also  all  similar  societies. 
Hence  a  man  who  persists  in  belonging  to  those 
societies  cannot  claim  to  be  a  Catholic  any  more 
than  a  Freemason  can. 

Thomas:  I  have  been  told,  however,  that,  in 
consequence  of  explanations  forwarded  to  the 
Holy  See,  a  man  may  yet  remain  in  these  so¬ 
cieties  under  certain  conditions. 

Father:  When  the  decree  of  condemnation 
against  those  societies  had  been  made  known, 
there  was  a  great  outcry  against  it  among  the 
Catholics  who  had  joined  them  and  among  other 
Catholics  professing  to  be  liberal-minded ,  and  the 
most  persistent  efforts  were  made  by  them  to 
have  the  decree  rescinded;  but  in  vain.  The 
Sacred  Congregation  replied:  “This  is  not  a  ques¬ 
tion  of  mere  ecclesiastical  law,  which  does  not 
bind  under  serious  disadvantages,  but  it  is  a  ques¬ 
tion  of  one  of  the  natural  and  divine  laws,  and  of 
not  giving  scandal  under  that  law.”  In  view, 
however,  of  the  extreme  hardship  some  who  for 
many  years  had  in  bona  fide  paid  their  dues  in 
those  societies,  would  undergo  by  losing  their 
insurance,  if  they  were  at  once  to  leave  these 
societies,  the  Holy  See,  without  rescinding  its 


EXCOMMUNICATED  AND  FORBIDDEN  SOCIETIES.  89 

condemnation  of  said  societies,  allowed  an 
appeal  to  the  Apostolic  Delegate  at  Washington, 
but  only  in  each  particular  case  wherein  all  the 
four  following  conditions  concur ,  viz.:  “1.  If  the 
Catholic  member  joined  any  of  these  societies 
before  he  was  aware  of  its  being  forbidden  by 
the  Church.  2.  If  there  be  no  scandal  arising,  or 
if  said  scandal  be  removed  by  the  timely  declara¬ 
tion  of  the  party  in  question  that  his  sole  motive 
,  in  remaining  is  to  prevent  his  losing  the  financial 
benefits  to  which  he  has  a  claim,  and,  moreover, 
that  he  will  abstain  from  all  intercourse  with  the 
forbidden  society.  3.  If  the  member  in  question 
cannot  leave  the  society  without  serious  damage 
to  himself  or  to  his  family.  4.  There  must  not 
be  the  least  danger  to  himself  or  to  his  family  of 
being  perverted  by  the  sectaries  ;  and  especially 
the  case  of  sickness  or  death  is  to  be  considered, 
so  that  there  be  not  the  least  danger  of  an  1111- 
Catholic  funeral.”  No  priest  or  bishop  has  the 
power  to  absolve  a  member  of  any  of  these  so¬ 
cieties  even  where  all  these  four  conditions  con¬ 
cur,  but  every  individual  case  must  be  referred  to 
the  Apostolic  Delegate.  The  cases  in  which  all 
these  four  conditions  do  not  concur,  cannot  enjoy 
the  right  of  appeal  to  the  Apostolic  Delegate,  but 
the  member  must  at  once  break  off  all  connection 
with  the  condemned  society  if  he  wishes  to  be 
considered  a  Catholic  and  be  permitted  to  receive 
the  sacraments.  I11  a  letter  dated  November  iotli, 
1896,  the  Apostolic  Delegate  says:  “With  regard 
to  the  hour  of  death  of  the  penitent,  every  con¬ 
fessor  must  surely  know  that  in  such  cases  absolu- 


90 


secret  societies. 


tion  is  given  after  the  penitent  promises  to  apply 
to  the  proper  authority  for  the  permission  in  ease 
he  should  recover  his  health.”  We  must  not  for¬ 
get  that  the  individuals  appealing  to  the  Apostolic 
Delegate  to  remain  in  said  societies  on  account  of 
the  four  conditions  existing  in  their  case,  must  be 
willing  to  abide  by  his  decision,  and  that,  if  the 
Apostolic  Delegate,  after  due  consideration,  de¬ 
cides  against  their  remaining  in  said  societies, 
they  are  bound  in  conscience  at  once  to  submit 
to  his  decision,  under  the  penalty  of  being  cut  off 
irom  the  Church. 

Thomas:  I  am  very  thankful  to  you  for  this 
explanation.  But  you  said  a  few  moments  ago 
that  there  are  also  societies  that  are  forbidden 
although  not  by  name.  I  would  like  to  have 
this  point  explained. 

Father:  No  Catholic  may  join  a  society  that  is 
similar  to  those  already  condemned  by  name. 
The  Third  Plenary  Council  of  Baltimore  in  its 
decrees  gives — No.  247 — the  following  marks  by 
which  we  may  know  if  a  society  is  forbidden  by 
the  Church  : — “If  said  society  enjoins  secrecy  to 
its  members  in  such  a  manner  that  it  may  not  be 
revealed  to  the  Ecclesiastical  authority  ;  or  if  it 
requires  an  oath  or  pledge  of  blind  and  absolute 
obedience  from  its  members,  such  a  society  is  to 
be  considered  as  forbidden,  and  its  members  are 
to  be  refused  sacramental  absolution  until  they 
actually  give  it  up  or  seriously  promise  to  re¬ 
nounce  it  at  once.  And  since  the  Bishop  enjoys 
not  only  the  right,  but  has  also  the  obligation  of 
investigating,  every  society  that  does  not  allow 


EXCOMMUNICATED  AND  FORBIDDEN  SOCIETIES.  91 

its  secret  to  be  manifested  to  the  Bishop  demand¬ 
ing  it,  is  to  be  judged  as  refusing  submission  to 
the  very  authority  of  the  Church  ;  and  the  obe¬ 
dience  promised  therein  to  perform  every  thing 
commanded  without  regard  to  its  lawfulness,  is 
to  be  considered  as  blind  and  absolute.”  I11  No. 
249  the  same  Council  says  :  ‘‘If  a  society  appoints 
for  itself  a  priest  (chaplain  or  prelate)  or  a 
minister  of  worship,  who  may  make  use  of  a 
ritual  and  special  ceremonies,  then  the  members 
incur  the  censures  decreed  against  schismatics  or 
heretics,  .  .  .  and  the  society  is  also  schismatical 
or  heretical.”  By  special  ritual  or  ceremonies 
are  not  meant  ‘‘certain  prayers  recited  at  our 
(Catholic)  meetings.”  Some  societies,  without 
being  evil  in  themselves,  must  be  considered  as 
forbidden  on  account  of  their  having  a  chaplain 
and  ritual  or  ceremonial  of  their  own.  During 
the  last  fifty  years  many  societies  have  been 
founded  now  possessing  a  large  membership.  In 
most  cases  the  founders  without  any  evil  intent, 
copied  Freemasonry  and  previous  kindred  so¬ 
cieties,  in  prescribing  a  special  chaplain  and  ritual 
of  their  own.  If  they  were  to  eliminate  these 
altogether,  and  this  they  could  do  without  mak¬ 
ing  any  essential  change  in  the  objects  etc.  of  the 
societies,  there  would  be  no  serious  objection  to 
Catholics  joining  them.  One  of  these  societies 
at  the  recommendation  of  the  late  Archbishop 
Leray  of  New  Orleans  did  away  with  their  chap¬ 
lain  and  ritual,  and  thus  was  no  longer  objection¬ 
able  and  became  more  prosperous,  in  being 
joined  by  many  Catholics.  But  many  of  the 


92 


secret  societies. 


new-fledged  societies  are  noviciates  for  Free¬ 
masonry  ;  that  is,  Freemasons  manage  them,  and 
pick  out  of  them  for  Freemasonry  such  members 
as  they  deem  useful  for  the  Craft.  In  this  way 
not  a  few  Catholics,  after  spending  some  years  in 
such  a  society,  not  only  gradually  give  up  the 
practice  of  their  religion,  but  are  inveigled  into 
Freemasonry  and  even  become  bitter  enemies  of 
the  Catholic  Church.  Catholics  cannot  be  too 
careful  in  joining  .societies.  They  .should  first 
make  sure  that  the  society  they  think  of  joining 
contains  nothing  objectionable  ;  and  if  after  they 
have  joined  a  society,  they  discover  that  it  is  ob¬ 
jectionable,  they  should  at  once  give  it  up. 

Thomas:  But  suppose  I  cannot  find  out  before 
joining  a  society  whether  it  is  objectionable  or 
not,  could  I  be  allowed  to  join  it, .  if  I  were 
perfectly  willing  to  retrace  my  steps,  in  case  I 
found  out  later  that  it  was  objectionable,  or  if  the 
Church  were  to  forbid  it? 

Father:  Yes,  sir;  but,  remember,  few  have  the 
moral  courage  to  step  down  and  out .  By  the  time 
you  are  thoroughly  initiated,  have  formed  new 
associations  and  invested  your  money,  you  may 
not,  and  most  probably  will  not  be  one  of  the 
few.  In  the  first  place,  give  a  good  example 
to  the  younger  and  weaker  members  of  our 
Church  ;  in  the  second  place,  do  not  weaken 
but  strengthen  her  by  your  influence,  and  lastly, 
listen  to  the  voice  of  our  bishops,  who  in  the 
divine  economy  have  a  right  and  a  duty  to 
teach  us,  and,  consequently,  we  are  bound  to 
hear  them. 


KXCOMMUNICATKD  AND  FORBIDDEN  SOCIETIES.  93 

Pope  Leo  XIII.  in  his  Encyclical  “Humanum 
Genus,”  which  I  have  quoted  before,  says  to  all 
the  Bishops  and  clergy:  “To  your  fidelity  and 
watchfulness  We  commend  in  a  special  manner 
the  young,  as  being  the  hope  of  society.  Devote 
the  greatest  part  of  your  care  to  their  instruction  ; 
and  do  not  think  that  any  precaution  can  be  great 
enough  in  keeping  them  from  masters  and  schools 
where  the  pestilent  breath  of  the  sects  is  to  be 
feared.  Under  your  guidance,  let  parents,  reli¬ 
gious  instructors,  and  priests  having  care  of  souls, 
use  every  opportunity,  in  their  Christian  teach¬ 
ing,  of  warning  their  children  and  pupils  of  the 
infamous  nature  of  these  societies,  so  that  they 
may  learn  in  good  time  to  beware  of  the  various 
fraudulent  artifices  by  which  their  promoters 
are  accustomed  to  ensnare  people.  And  those  who 
instruct  the  young  in  religious  knowledge  will 
act  wisely,  if  they  induce  all  of  them  to  resolve 
and  to  undertake  never  to  bind  themselves  to 
any  society  without  the  knowledge  of  their 
parents,  or  the  advice  of  their  parish  priest  or 
director.” 

Let  me  conclude  with  two  more  quotations  :  one 
from  the  Rt.  Rev.  Francis  Silas  Chatard,  D.  D., 
Bp.  of  Vincennes,  and  the  other  from  the  Bishops 
assembled  in  Council  at  Baltimore  : 

‘‘The  life  of  a  Catholic  thus  associating  with 
11011-Catholics,  in  the  intimate  fellowship  called 
for  by  the  circumstances,  makes  him  critical  of 
the  Church  and  an  easy  prey  to  the  liberalism  of 
the  time,  and  generates  disgust  for  a  devout  life. 
To  be  sure,  where  a  man  is  forced  to  enter  upon 


94 


SECRET  SOCIETIES. 


such  associations,  the  proximate  occasion  of  cold¬ 
ness  and  of  neglect  of  religion  by  fidelity  to  duty 
may  be  made  remote  ;  but  the  chances  are  against 
this.  We  therefore,  most  earnestly  exhort  you, 
Reverend  Brethren  of  the  Clergy,  to  deter,  with 
prudence,  all  from  joining  any  of  the  secret  so¬ 
cieties  not  formally  condemned,  and  to  throw  all 
your  influence  in  favor  of  Catholic  societies 
already  instituted  and  approved,  or  to  be  in¬ 
stituted  with  proper  approval  of  the  Church. 
And  we  bid  you,  Dearly  Beloved  Children  of  the 
Laity,  to  hearken  to  our  words,  to  follow  the 
spirit  of  the  Church.  That  Church  has  the  .spirit 
of  God,  and  even  where  she  gives  no  official 
declaration,  .she  is  guided  by  that  spirit  and  an¬ 
imated  with  the  prudence,  which  is  from  Heaven. 
Under  her  guidance  we  walk  surely  and  safely  in 
the  path  of  life  everlasting,  gathering  as  we  go 
the  merit  which  is  to  be  our  title  to  eternal 
reward.  May  God  bless  us  all  with  that  for 
which  the  wise  Solomon  prayed  (III.  Kings  iii, 
9.),  a  docile  heart,  obedient  to  his  Spouse,  the 
Church.  ” 

In  the  Pastoral  Letter  of  the  Third  Plenary 
Council  of  Baltimore,  addressed  to  the  Catholic 
Laity,  we  read  (pp.  xcvi  and  xcvii): 

“Whenever,  therefore,  the  Church  has  spoken 
authoritatively  with  regard  to  any  society,  her 
decision  ought  to  be  final  for  every  Catholic. 
He  ought  to  know  that  the  Church  has  not  acted 
hastily  nor  unwisely  nor  mistakenly ;  he  should 
be  convinced  that  any  worldly  advantages  which 
he  might  derive  in  such  a  society,  would  be  a 


EXCOMMUNICATED  AND  FORBIDDEN  SOCIETIES.  95 

poor  substitute  for  the  membership,  the  sacra¬ 
ments  and  the  blessings  of  the  Church  of  Christ  ; 
he  should  have  the  courage  of  his  religious  con¬ 
victions,  and  stand  firm  to  faith  and  conscience. 
But  if  he  be  inclined  or  asked  to  join  a  society  on 
which  the  Church  has  passed  no  sentence,  then 
let  him,  as  a  reasonable  and  Christian  man, 
examine  into  it  carefully,  and  not  join  the  society 
until  he  is  satisfied  as  to  its  lawful  character. 

There  is  one  characteristic  which  is  always  a 
strong  presumption  against  a  society,  and  that  is 
secrecy.  Our  Divine  Lord  himself  has  laid  down 
the  rule:  ‘Everyone  that  doth  evil,  hatetli  the 
light,  and  coineth  not  to  the  light,  that  his  works 
may  not  be  reproved.  But  lie  that  doth  truth 
eometh  to  the  light,  that  his  works  may  be  made 
manifest,  because  they  are  done  in  God.’  (John 
iii,  20,  21.)  When,  therefore,  associations  veil 
themselves  in  .secrecy  and  darkness,  the  presump¬ 
tion  is  against  them,  and  it  rests  with  them  to 
prove  that  there  is  nothing  evil  in  them. 

But  if  any  society’s  obligation  be  such  as  to 
bind  its  members  to  secrecy,  even  when  rightly 
questioned  by  competent  authority,  then  such  a 
society  puts  itself  outside  the  limits  of  approval ; 
and  no  one  can  be  a  member  of  it  and  at  the  same 
time  be  admitted  to  the  sacraments  of  the  Catholic 
Church.  The  same  is  true  of  any  organization 
that  binds  its  members  to  a  promise  of  blind  obe¬ 
dience — to  accept  in  advance  and  to  obey  what¬ 
soever  orders,  lawful  or  unlawful,  that  may 
emanate  from  its  chief  authorities  ;  because  such 
a  promise  is  contrary  both  to  reason  and  to  con- 


96 


secret  societies. 


.science.  And  if  a  society  works  or  plots,  either 
openly  or  in  secret,  against  the  Church,  or  against 
lawful  authorities,  then  to  be  a  member  of  it,  is 
to  be  excluded  from  the  membership  of  the  Cath¬ 
olic  Church. 

These  authoritative  rules,  therefore,  ought  to 
be  the  guide  of  all  Catholics  in  their  relations 
with  societies.  No  Catholic  can  conscientiously 
join,  or  continue  in,  a  body  in  which  he  knows 
that  any  of  these  condemned  features  exist.  If 
he  has  joined  it  in  good  faith  and  the  objection¬ 
able  features  become  known  to  him  afterwards, 
or  if  any  of  these  evil  elements  creep  into  a  .so¬ 
ciety  which  was  originally  good,  it  becomes  his 
duty  to  leave  it  at  once.  And  even  if  he  were  to 
suffer  loss  or  run  risk  by  leaving  such  a  society 
or  refusing  to  join  it,  he  should  do  his  duty  and 
brave  the  consequences,  regardless  of  human 
considerations.  ...  It  is  not  enough  for  Catholics 
to  shun  bad  or  dangerous  societies,  they  ought  to 
take  part  in  good  and  useful  ones.  If  there  ever 
was  a  time  when  merely  negative  goodness  would 
not  suffice,  such  assuredly  is  the  age  in  which  wev 
live.  This  is  pre-eminently  a  age  of  action,  and 
what  we  need  to-day  is  active  virtue  and  energetic 
piety.  Again  and  again  has  the  voice  of  the  Vicars 
of  Christ  been  heard,  giving  approval  and  encour¬ 
agement  to  many  kinds  of  Catholic  associations, 
not  only  as  a  safeguard  against  the  allurements  of 
dangerous  societies,  but  also  as  a  powerful  means 
of  accomplishing  much  of  the  good  that  our  times 
stand  in  need  of.” 


THE  END. 


If  you  cannot  find  what  you  want,  inquire  at 
the  circulation  desk  for  assistance. 


